#bro i know i messed up on timeline/story shit maybe….

[luxcruor]

[ POUR ]  for our muses to have a passionate reunion kiss in the rain.  / shori

.* DIFFERENT KINDS OF KISSES ; @kaizokugaris

being thrown to the winds years before had hardened the kunoichi once again to only her own presence. ( back to the lonely life ) the endless forest of an island that had been her home for those few years taught survival. most of her time had been spent training alone or with the herd of deer that called the island their home ass well with a short-sword, a blade any good assassin needs, something compact and quick. piles of wood had fallen to the blade by the time she had to protect herself. ( afterwords giving the hilt an extra caress to remind herself of him. )

At long last pieces of her crew had found themselves on her island and she’d forced a full smile once she realized the swordsman wasn’t among them. They had a new destination though, Wano. The passage was smooth ( agonizing in length without anyone she felt fully comfortable with..) shori glances up from her own reflection, gazing back from the metal of her dagger while the crew above shout orders and holler out with joy. Creeping over to the nearest port-hole Shori spots the huge cliffs along the shores of Wano.

She went out alone the moment he was mentioned to be on the island. It was the most frantic she had felt in some time… Her heart was racing as she combed through the main market to no results. this was zoro… shori figured a change of strategy was in order. Perhaps she could just… walk around randomly until she spotted him? Since when did he remember locations? Might as well go to where she was more at home, in the company of a gentle forest breeze. Well, so much for a quaint walk, the moment she was on the trail cool droplets of rain sprinkle over her skin. Her hair sticks to her cheeks as she navigates the woods. Moving aside yet another branch the kunoichi comes to an open valley. A shape catches her eye, a tree ??? No, not large enough but still an imposing height. Three branches reaching out from the back... no.. not branches those were... swords. Hands shake as she opens her mouth but speaks silence. " Z--zor--- " shori's breath hitches as tears run down her face, invisible in the rain. Legs stagger across the ground as her body reacts before her voice. Her movements are excited and she tumbles to the dirt without care, eyes still focused on him. " ZORO !!!!!!!!!!! " she cries out over the winds and rain, hands reaching towards him after years of being alone.. she crumbles to her knees as she throws her arms around him. Eyes brimming with concern as her finger glides over a new scar over his eye.

" Zoro..my Zoro it's you.. it's really you!! " she beams up at him before practically leaping up to close the distance between their faces. cradling his face for the first time in three years.. she'd almost forgotten the curves and angles unique to his visage, the careful hand that always found it's way to her lower back to press her closer and the undeniable feeling of absolute safety in his arms. After three long years, Shori was home.

[amor-immortalem]

So lesson 40’s here and season 2’s over huh? Let’s complain about it together

I’m simultaneously dissatisfied and satisfied with S2’s ending. I have negative feelings about the hard mode 40-8 in particular.

I feel like if this is actually the original timeline were back in, the brothers should have had a bigger reaction to MC’s return cuz like didn’t Solomon say that we just up and disappeared at the start of season 1 and the bros were a complete mess?

Makes me feel like something’s up- like the brothers’ perception of time has been altered or messed with in some way.

Initially I thought that Lucifer had seen the way his brothers and himself were suffering and wrought with worry for MC being missing so he asked Barbatos to cast a spell on them to kind of ease that by not making it seem so long that MC’s been gone and make it feel more like only a few days to months (or hell maybe he could’ve learnt to do it himself- this is Lucifer we’re talking about here) but now I’m not so sure and maybe we didn’t actually end up in the correct timeline. Or maybe this is all just nightbringer’s influence (cuz remember they’re all about leading others to happiness or something along those lines)

Either way I’m generally not a fan of it- I wanted that big sappy reunion with over the top dramatics with my favorite demons, damnit! I’ve been robbed!

Also where the fuck did Solomon go? he went through the rift in space time with us so shouldn’t there have at least been a small interaction with him when we arrived at the HOL even if it was along the lines of “oh good we’ve made it back in one piece, I’ll let you go inside and have some time to catch up with the brothers on your own. I’m gonna go debrief with Barbatos” or something?

And then there’s Nightbringer- or more specifically, their lack of presence within Season 2. When was the last time they’d even been mentioned in the story(lesson 21? 22? Were they ever mentioned at all after that?)

I know obvious answer is that Nightbringer=Barbatos (is it just me or was Barbs acting kinda… weird? Throughout the lesson??? He had me feeling like ‘this mf knows we time traveled don’t he?’) but anyway it feels like, for a character the game is literally named for, they’re not very important and front ‘n center…

Maybe S3 will be more focused on Nightbringer and whatever the hell’s going on with that weird ass reception from the brothers we got but for now we’ll just have to wait (I wouldn’t be surprised if solmare made us wait until April when the game hits its one year anniversary for S3 just like it played out in the OG game…)

Also also if the devs don’t hurry up and make 13, mephisto, and raphael dateable in S3 I’m going to riot. Lemme give my pretty wife kisses and take her on cute dates and shit. It’s been like 2 or 3 seasons since she was introduced! Whats the hold up?

My thoughts aren’t coherent anymore so I’ll stop but see y’all in April for Season 3

[herotheshiro]

Spoilers for weak hero webtoon ch 267 but...

SHOOK that the author actually had stephen wake up AND have stephen and gray reunite. I mean i suspected stephen would wake up at one point bc why put him in a coma instead of killing him off then, and i also suspected he would wake up/they would reunite at the very end bc it makes sense narratively for gray to "finish" all his eunjang shit before meeting stephen again... but still. Having all that actually happen fr still surprised me.

I wonder how much the drama adaption influenced the webtoon or vice versa bc they had stephen working at a cafe (food place) where gray meets him again... either the author liked suho working his odd jobs or it was in the author's plan all along and the drama writer just low key "spoiled" it when adapting.

Anyway, i did go and read that last ch, and reading it made me kind of have a better idea of what the drama will look like... based on the fact they could p much summarize the main points of the entire story in 1/3 of that ch means they could reasonably adapt the entire webtoon in the 2nd season (w some story adjustments/cuts obvi) and end w suho and sieun's reunion in the very last scene. Yes it would be kind of rushed or they would have to remove a ton of stuff to have the pacing feel more natural but they could feasibly do it... otherwise if they follow the pacing of s1 then i can definitely see them adequately adapting in 2 more seasons (so a total of 3 seasons). Also the story summary had a shot of gray driving a motorcycle... i can totally see them bringing that to the drama since suho's key character trait was him biking around everywhere... drama!ben being like woah you know how to work a bike? And sieun being like yeah... i learned from my friend

Anyway while we're imagining drama scenes... i can totally see a way they could do the reunion scene in my head.

Sieun enters a korean grilling place similar to the place featured in s1 (i'm p sure there's a korean term for this kind of restaurant but i'm too lazy to look it up rn). Sieun looks out over the restaurant, a voice calls out "welcome!" camera pan or cut to suho's back (or a shot of sieun at the door w a blurred suho in the foreground), he's clearing a table and not looking at the entrance. He tells sieun over his shoulder to sit down and he'll get to him. Sieun stays rooted, silent and comprehending that suho is awake and moving around like he had never been in a coma. Suho finally turns around, wonders why the customer is just standing there, then has whiplash when he realizes who he's looking at. The scene could finish either 1 of 2 ways - 1. hyunwook and jihoon's comments abt their reunion could be used, w sieun hesitatingly (or sarcastically) asking "do you remember me?" and suho cheekily is like "ya i'm not stupid, weirdo. how have you been?" While sieun smiles at him and the scene cuts to an aerial view of the restaurant w the eunjang bros milling abt (similar to webtoon) OR my original thought of 2. suho looks at him in silent shock, sieun smiles at him as the camera zooms in closer to him and he says "hey, it's been a while" cooly and then hard cut to credits.

Anyway so if the author goes w realism, then that means stephen must have woken from his coma p soon afterwards? Bc technically the longer someone is in a coma, then the more messed up they are upon waking up... he's working fine (assumingly) and also seems to remember gray or at least the feeling of gray... technically we know it's likely been over a year since stephen went into the coma since i think gray transferred to eunjang abt the same timeline sieun did and the ending ep had someone talk abt how the school yr had finished... the webtoon has the benefit of stephen getting transferred away so gray couldn't keep up w him, but as i said in my prev post, the drama will likely also similarly transfer him away in s2 to get him out of the picture for sieun's further development... or maybe not? There's a couple ways they could go about it i guess. But anyway yeah this confirms choi hyunwook will be coming back at one point lol. Idk i convinced myself they wouldn't bring him back, that they would effectively write suho off but i mean as i said. He's in a coma, not dead so.

Also that webtoon ending scene is gonna adapt so well in the drama if they choose to use it as the ending... it will truly be a full circle w the drama starting w suho and sieun's story and then ending w suho and sieun's reunion. However it does kind of make the vibe different bw the drama and webtoon... w the webtoon focusing more on gray's character and his impact on a larger social network while the drama focuses on that first friendship sieun has and how it shapes him to face his later struggles (and then he is able to return to that friendship in the end, changed for the better (?)). Maybe i'm talking out of my ass since i've barely read the webtoon but again it's interesting to see the changes bw source and the adaption.

[kiwibirdlafayette]

Its Gays on A Boat! (working title)

There's a multiversal threat, and theres only one group of idiots that can stop it! Its taking out the S1 Mianite world and its comin for the rest of the universes in the vast SMP Multiverse o nooo

Mianite spin off pitch; Post DSMP; canon divergent. uhh fills in what Sonja was up to during Isles and after the fact. mostly just random ideas i had i cant write prose for shit

A few years after S2 Sonja and Wag get kinda left behind. Tom returns to Astrakheins with Alice to find himself, Jordan depressedly goes off to become a pirate, Tucker leaves the universe to pursue other things

The two of them end up gettin into more powerful magics outta boredom (which Martha doesnt really like all that much) and in her explorations, Sonja stumbles upon the idea of necromancy. i dont have it fleshed out but. she talks to Philza (whos in the S1 world with Techno, pre-SMP Earth) who introduces her to Kristen. exploration of Capsizes limbo and basically she brings back Capsize

Canonically SMPEarth takes place right before Isles. and uhh While Jordan and Tom have reunited when Martha and Alice send the two back in time to investigate x thing idk i didnt finish the series yet (Mianitian Isles) Sonja is kinda just tryna help Capsize find herself again bc she didnt come back right (big ol memory issues). Post Isles Tom ends up on their boat with no idea where Jordan went (spoiler: bro ended up in the End of the DSMP, pulled there by XD) Jordan gets involved with the DSMP Syndicate bc of Phil and Techno

((theres a gap in story here but tldr; before the nuclear bomb that resets the server goes off, the trio find Jordan and take him and Tubbo- maybe also Ranboo and Michael- onto the boat and they fuck off to.... somewhere. Phil and Techno have their own way out i personally like the Syndicate ending Phil wrote i dont wanna mess with it))

A lot of it kinda focuses on the four reconnecting and repairing their faults of the past and a continuation of this multiversal threat that Jordan was investigating on the DSMP which i cant really explain yet. basically think world historian but a lot worse with quintessence stuff

like Jordan trying to make it up to a Capsize for how he treated her, but who doesn't remember him that well, Jordan reconnecting with his son that he basically had to abandon when the Realm of Mianite was falling apart, the tension between Sonja and Tom, where Sonja has kinda been Capsize's friend all this time while he was gone and regretting not being around, Tom helping Capsize through this revival state relating his own experience where he cant remember the ghosts of his past life all that well- and more!

also shenanigans. tons of mianite-style silly shenanigans cause we love some absolute 180 contrast in these damn things

other maybe plot points

Furia. yea theyre back

redbeard coping with the fact his sister is back. havent decided how much she remembers of him for angst reasons >:]

if i stick to ranboos canon ending for their character, them finding ranboo in the nether at some point

tom really leaning into the godhood of bein mecha dianite

meeting their origins alts from starborne kingdom of dianite when the timelines start to get fucky and blended together

motanite returns, and most of the Ruxomar Alts (including Spark whos been in the vast expanse with S2Ianite and comes back to roast Jordan)

Waglington. just waglington.

ok thats it for now. ill take questions i guess i know its very disorganized bc im still writing OSMP stuff and im tryna to not do two at once

[anne-i-write]

moriarty the patriot headcannons

| requested by anon: “uhhh kinda weird lmao but how would the moriarty bros react to an s/o from the future? (Headcanons) thanks! OwO” |

william x reader; louis x reader; albert x reader

word count: 1355

tw: a few swears, if i’m missing any please let me know!

a/n: i’m so sorry that these are coming out so slow please enjoy!

william: 317 words

please

as soon as you wake up he’ll be staring at you intently

“where am i?”

“durham, england, 1880… and in my room”

it takes you like ten minutes to process everything that’s going on because: “i’m dreaming right??? or did i actually shift???

after finally accepting the fact you indeed did not shift and are not dreaming, you finally looked at the man who had stayed silent during your incoherent ramblings

“you seem more awake now, is it alright if i ask a few questions?”

hhh he’s such a gentleman

you both honestly take this whole time shift thing really well

louis definitely walks in on you two and he’s like,,

“who tf are you and how did you get in”

sdjkfhd pls its so funny when you guys converse

his speaking manner is so refined and yours is just,, yours

but he loves it

he thinks its cute

he comes up with a story for you because there were people who were no doubt going to question how you came into his life

and from there you two hit it off really well

accidentally said you two were to be wed during a conversation and the nobles went insane

when you are on the carriage ride back from the party he apologizes for saying something so out of line

“i wouldn’t mind being married to you, william.”

this man always has something to say but THIS

YOU

he wanted to respond with something witty but you just,, existed and made him melt

“let’s go buy a ring tomorrow then.”

asks you questions about the future

only trivial things, never if his plan works in the long term

but judging by the way you talk about your previous life he can tell that everyone is somewhat equal, except for “the dumbass politicians” you speak about

oh did i mention he picks up your swears too LMAO

louis: 459 words

 he’s heading back to his room when you come OUT of his room

“who tf are you, how did you get into this house, and why are you here”

instant kill mode

you think you’re dreaming so you’re like,, ok cool and you tell him most of your life story and he’s like

??????

has never been more dumbfounded in his life

who is this person and what are they wearing and why are they telling me their life story

eventually the rest of the moriarty team gets involved and matters are settled lmao

you all agree that staying in the manor is the best course of action at the moment

louis thinks you’re taking this a little too well so he’s still a little sus of you

like seriously,, the future?? cmon now

the people you’re working for probably made those weird clothes for you

but anyways

you’re helping him clean the house and cook

“this is fun,,, but honestly?? if i have to do this by myself everyday i would cry”

you keep saying this and you know it’s getting annoying for louis but he ISNT TALKING

if you can’t beat em, annoy em

finally gives in

“how did you used to wash clothes in the future?”

and you get this big smile on your face and you start TALKING

you’re so excited that he finally spoke to you

even tho you know you lowkey annoyed him

but you’re talking and louis is like,, huh

you’re talkative, but not annoying at all

you have little stories that make him laugh sometimes

needless to say you both get closer

but it isn’t until one night louis is making rounds around the manor that he passes by your room and hears crying

so he’s worried and he goes into your room

bruh you try pulling that shit where you wipe away your tears and be like “oh i’m okay!”

like,, no u aren’t

louis makes you spill what’s bothering you

“my friends, my family… are they okay? are they looking for me?? they must be so worried”

note that you’ve already been at the moriarty estate for about two months without any word that you can return to your own time

and louis holds you

he teaches you more about the year that you’re currently stuck in and he tries to take your mind off of the bad things

asks william to buy more books to indulge you bc you have some book withdrawals bc “WHAT DO YOU MEAN A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING HASNT BEEN PRINTED YET” followed by a short crying session

he’s a really good boyfriend

you taught him what a boyfriend was and he couldn’t stop thinking about how much society’s view on relationships changed

albert: 579 words

is walking down the streets at night when he sees you barreling down the road in your clothes

you look pretty scathed when you run right into him

“are you alright?”

you’re scared and out of breath but he’s wearing what you can only assume is a uniform of england

he takes you to his place and tries to calm you down

he asks you questions and you tell him everything straight out

you know you look crazy but you couldn’t bring yourself to care

you were just walking back from a friend’s place IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and you felt dizzy and you woke up alone in a dark alleyway

“where are you from?”

you obviously give him your city but he corrects himself

“what year are you from?”

“2019”

doesn’t want to believe you bc you’re all frantic and maybe insane

but your clothes just seem to different for him to brush off the possibility

tells you to sleep it off and gives you his bed

he’s already writing a letter to his brothers that he’s possibly coming back with someone

“ohoho brother albert has a suitor now?”

anyways, albert asks you more questions about your other life as you’re both on the train to durham

albert went out to buy you more fitting clothes before leaving and you couldn’t even repay him

but he tries to get you in a comfortable position so you don’t spiral again

but he’s genuinely nice about it when he finally accepts the fact that you are in fact from the future

funny enough, you both don’t get each others names until you get onto the train

“oh, my name is albert james moriarty”

and you’re briefly like “oh like sherlock’s nemesis” but then you remember that this is only the victorian era

sherlock holmes doesn’t exist, it’s just a coincidence

so you both get to the manor and he introduces you to the moriarty team and this is where you’re like,,

oh my God

this is real and i know the ending

you suddenly want to travel back further in time and never meet them bc they’re all really sweet towards you

and you got attached to them more than you should have

albert notices you’re a little tense so he makes small conversation to get your mind off of things

“i do like to play the piano”

bro

they have a piano delivered to the house to make you feel more comfortable and hopefully keep you occupied

itching and nostalgic (ironic), you play songs from rachmaninoff and joe hisaishi, despite it being from the future

everyone knows chopin so shhh

“that’s beautiful, did you compose that?”

“no, but another composer did, i don’t even think he exists yet”

you’re very adamant on keeping things the same

like,, no i’m not going to tell you how to create a washing machine because i don’t want to mess up the timeline if i do go back to the future

you do get very sad occasionally because you are homesick and being placed in a world where you have only heard stories of is very disorienting

but albert and the boys make up for it

albert always tries to be by your side and if he can get his hands on a piano sheet he’ll buy one for you and see if you already know it

it’s always nice to have them around, but you know the troubles you’ll eventually have to face

moriarty the patriot taglist: @zoehanji

[frederickthegreat]

my thoughts on TUA season 2

(spoilers, obviously)

- opened with Klaus and Ben, my kings. Klaus’s hair looks so weird straightened while short 

- AWESOME opening soundtrack 

- seeing all their powers so controlled makes me wonder how they leveled up to that skill in the alternate timeline. like the only time we saw Klaus use the powers of other ghosts in the correct timeline was when two of them caught him falling out of the sky. however Diego did end up controlling bullets and Allison used her voice to technically kill one of the Swedes

- the homeless man screaming Allison’s name alongside Luther... funny shit

- big teddy bear Hazel

- Elliot was fucking awesome i think he was a great addition as a side character. rip tho :(

- honestly i don’t understand why Diego would WANT to save JFK. like it’s not that big of a deal. does he not understand what messing with the timeline can do??

- Lila... impeccable

- Sissy and Vanya... impeccable <3

- yeah and fuck u Carl

- ugh, Klaus’s beard. disgusting <3

- Ben and Klaus definitely act like they should be, given that they’ve been stuck with each other for over a decade. i’ve seen some people calling Klaus an asshole for not telling his siblings about Ben, which is completely understandable (cause he was an asshole), but I’m guessing it was because he was afraid? that sharing Ben with his siblings would mean that he would lose him to them, or his siblings would find him selfish, or they would ask something of him that he couldn’t give. if that makes sense

- that ghost bitch comment was funny tho 

- to the guy who called Klaus pretty boy at the bar: sir you don’t know what you’re getting into

- Raymond!! he’s such a sweetheart, i really liked him in the show. i’m really happy that Allison has found a bit of normalcy (as normal as the 1960s Civil Rights movement could be). it shows how passionate she is about what she believes in: even though she knows the movement is far from over, even back in 2019, she’s not gonna abandon it

- Allison staring at the moon every night: either thinking about Luther or how the moon blows them all up. maybe both

- of course Luther would be working for Jack Ruby

- awesome cinematography during the mental asylum escape 

- yeah it makes sense that the Handler would still be alive. she was a cool villain. although it would’ve been awesome to see how evil a fish could be

- Diego’s plan was pretty stupid. that’s my boy

- honestly they revealed how Klaus started a cult really well by having one of his followers find him at jail. Klaus, ever the musical aficionado, of course writes his scripture based off of pop songs

- Raymond and Klaus meeting!! that was cool to see how their paths connected

- Lila painting Elliot’s toenails green. ugh i love that crazy bitch

- i LOVE how they incorporated the umbrella man!! tbh i’ve always believed he was the one behind the assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald was framed 

- honestly a bit understandable that Luther was planning on killing Vanya? cause he had no idea who she is now, but them reuniting was actually really sweet. he’s grown up so much

- the Swedes and their cats.

- the Umbrella company building with the nuclear family mannequins... creepy, awesome shit

- baby pogo baby pogo baby pogo baby pogo

- shanked diego shanked diego shanked diego shanked diego

- did anyone else get vibes from Klaus’s episode opening that he was an escort to the old woman? like how he was being shown off at her arm or something and getting out of jail from a call from the governor. idk maybe the lady was just very taken with him, as anyone would be

- Elliot, our helpful king

- Allison and Klaus’s reunion was so sweet!! i’m so glad they got to interact so much more in this season 

- Ben getting Raymond out through a haunting... hilarious

- sweet intimate moment between Lila and Diego

- Ray meeting Luther was hilarious, but i do feel for the poor guy. i mean i’m not in love with my adoptive sister but still

- the sit-in was really well done and beautiful while terrible. the ‘riot’ that ensued was very appropriate for today’s setting 

- D-Dave

- honestly i was scared that Klaus was gonna be overly attracted to him or whatever, which would be weird cause he’s years younger than Klaus, but honestly, at the core he just wanted to save Dave’s life. even if it means never meeting him in a different timeline. he truly loved Dave. and that ptsd flashback was done so well

- i knew Lila wasn’t trustworthy but i didn’t REALLY expect that! 

- Vanya and Luther talking with each other, Luther admitting the apocalypse wasn’t all her fault. beautiful

- the Majestic 12 reminds me of the conspiracy theory that only a few families control basically everything in the world. the Majestic 12 may be based off of that, idk

- idk about everyone else but Klaus’s scorpion and the frog story made total sense to me! frogs ARE bitches

- the diner scene.... ugh. it really shows that the two of them did fall in love and they did stupid in love things, like talking about their family, about why Dave wanted to join, favorite colors, favorite foods, etc. however that’s seen later on when Dave visits the compound

- yes it’s very disheartening when Klaus is attacked, but honestly i think it had to happen, just like the riot had to happen. the 60s weren’t a fun time for lgbt people and poc. it was only going to be a matter of time before the show HAD to acknowledge the consequences of Klaus’s ‘flamboyancy’ in 1963 Texas. it doesn’t make it right or easy to see, but it’s realistic. 

- it also makes sense that Klaus fell off the wagon after experiencing something like that. yes we all would’ve liked him to stay sober, but sobriety and recovery aren’t linear. 

- Allison is so happy with Ray can we please drop this pseudo-incest plotline let’s MOVE ON 

- Texas Grace ! who is not actually Grace rip (i think? i was a bit confused lol)

- the scene with Harlan running off was really upsetting but we got to see those weird light particles that we saw in the first season

- Pogo Pogo Pogo Pogo

- Klaus being a dick to Ben again, as brothers do. i do feel bad for Ben though it must be sooo frustrating. that scene with him and Allison was really sweet and funny tho

- i just have to say that Luther and Diego are so fucking funny this season it’s awesome. like there are a LOT of good lines overall by everyone but they’re hilarious. “At least he didn’t shank my ass” “no bro, he shanked your heart”“Dads part of a sinister CABAL that’s plotting on killing the president.” “a caBAL?”“You two still a thing? *leans in* do we need to talk?” “No, she’s married.” “Woah dude... that’s rough.” and countless others

- the sibling reunion!! 

- Klaus really does get left out of everything tbh

- Ben :(

- sisters and Klaus!! that was so awesome to see. and Klaus’s hairpins, Vanya saying she’s gonna tell Sissy she loves her, their dance sequence, Klaus calling Allison out on that incest. beautiful

- the fucking Swedish cover of Hello was PERFECT i mean i was sad for the Swedes but it was hilarious. there were a couple beautiful shots of the boat on fire though

- god it must’ve been so traumatizing for Allison to be thrust into such a hostile place with no voice and no way to contact her family

-  idk about you guys but long live Team Zero

- calling Ben that he was becoming their father was a bit uncalled for 

- the fact that Klaus didn’t help Dave’s chances, and in fact escalated Dave’s own timeline.. his trembling hands... robert sheehan is an amazing actor

- the Black president bit lmaoo loved it

- the way Reginald spoke to Diego.. i’m gonna throw hands with an old man

- Klaus LITERALLY looked like he was having a seizure and they all just... played it off?? 

- poor, poor Carl. nah fuck him lol

- that bloody opening scene was awesome! and thank god Five got to say fuck. the fact that it was about a candy bar makes too much sense

- Robert Sheehan acting as Ben: amazing showstopping spectacular he’s so talented

- the whole multiple Fives and Luther bit was honestly really funny, and i immensely respect smaller Five over bigger Five. 

- yes Klaus, you survived a family of seven. you got this

- not sad about Carl dying one bit!

- Ben... that was such a beautiful scene. not just the content of the scene, but the cinematography. Ben fading away... Vanya hugging him... ugh. the main takeaway i had from that scene is that at the core of it all, Ben and Klaus love each other immensely. they have a weird, dysfunctional, fucked up relationship, where Klaus is an asshole and Ben definitely shouldn’t of possessed him without his consent, but they’re still brothers, and Ben forgives him. 

- oof Ben’s funeral was hard. also was it just me or did Klaus’s kid actor sound weird? like it sounded like Robert was dubbing his lines 

- all the siblings back together again!!!! Klaus going with Vanya to save Harlan!! Vanya telling him Ben forgives him and that it wasn’t Klaus’s fault Ben got stuck with him!! everyone in the car!!! be still my beating heart

- yeah didn’t see Lila having powers coming tbh. i really feel bad for her she’s had such a rough and traumatic life, especially with the Handler as her only parental figure

- the Swede brother and Five putting down their weapons: “enough.” the Swede wanted revenge for his brothers - an eye for an eye, but there was a mutual understanding between the two of them: they would do anything for their family. if the Swede hurts one of the Hargreeves, Five would never stop coming after him. i thought it was very beautiful 

- mmm Reggie’s foreshadowing coming into play. proud of u Five

- the ending was so beautiful. everyone got closure in some type of way. except now Klaus is alone with nothing but his dog tags :(

- EMO BEN HAHAHA WTFFF?? is Lila in the sparrow academy? why was Ben’s portrait over the mantle piece? did Five disappear?? is the sparrow academy just older versions of the siblings who stuck around?? so many questions

FINAL THOUGHTS

- Ellen Page’s acting consistently blows me away. she is amazing 

- beautiful cinematography, funny writing, pretty good acting. i didn’t like the soundtrack as much as i did the first season’s, but some of it wasn’t bad.

- i’m glad ben got peace, but i’m also glad justin min isn’t gone for good. his social media presence is too vital for us

- i swear to god if they keep treating klaus as a joke and don’t let him get any actual development like everyone else had (he barely got closure with Dave, he reconciled with Ben through a second party) next season, i’m gonna riot. PLEASE i want to learn more about his powers now that Ben is gone. what happened to seeing tons of ghosts when he’s sober??

- Luther and Diego were probably my favorite duo of the season, I’m so happy that they’ve reconciled and are bonding more. 

- just seeing Vanya grow and be happy was amazing 

all in all, really wonderful season. i probably liked it better than the first one. now it’s time to consume fanfiction and maybe finish my own (check out “god doesn’t want him and neither does the devil” on ao3!)

[hiraethhh-h]

throwing a weighted blanket at the om! bros + undateables (and a bonus)

warning(s): some swearing, threats of torture, implied nsfw, spoilers. 

note: no supernatural beings or humans were hurt in the making of this- also this was inspired bc my mom bought a weighted blanket and its heavy af 

the demon brothers

lucifer:

“MCCCCCC..!!!”

i- chile do you have a death wish???

momentary shock at how cute your laughter sounds (but he would never say it out loud unless you two were alone)

prepare to be chased and in demon form once he gets himself together

this man can ZOOM (i mean he does chase after mammon)

when you get caught, oH boY 

you’ll be lectured for hours on end 

“what made you think that was a good idea, mc?”

“and delete that recording of me. immediately.”

don’t worry levi is sure to save a secret file :)

anyone you were in cahoots with will be lectured and punished too

but your punishment ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

mammon:

“ADKSDHFKSJHFGKSJFH- HeY!!!”

is completely caught off-guard

crooked glasses and messy hair once he removes the blanket off of him

“why’d ya do that mc!!!”

if you tease mammon about being unable to handle the weight of the blanket-

*mammon rant activated*

“the great mammon can totally handle weight!!! i used to lift more than beel ya know!!!”

“hey! quit laughing at me mc!!!”

gets all flustered when you admit you were just teasing him to see his cute reaction

awe bby boy

probably forgives you if you promise to spend quality time with him for a few days

dont be surprised if he holds a grudge tho 

prepare to smother him with snuggles and cuddles to make him forgive you :)))

leviathan:

oh boy, you’d best be ready to deal with the consequences if you throw a weighted blanket onto him

especially if he’s doing a game run-through or grinding through a game 

“okay... just a little more and- ACK!”

like mammon, totally caught off guard since he was so focused on his game

*game over flashes on his screen*

“NOoOOo!!! My ScoRE!!!”

oh shit...

chile- you best hope you can run from levi 

pissed off at you like that one time during the TSL tournament

one of the other demon bros has to interfere and stop levi

“that stupid normie made me mess up my perfect score!!!”

mad at you for a few days 

and he will hold a grudge

but decides to forgive you if you stay with him as he plays through the game again

“i only forgave you because you’re the only one who’d love a yucky otaku like me...”

“and because you’re my henry.”

satan:

ok now you really have a death wish but i would probably do it too tbh 

ah... nothing but a normal day for satan

a cup of his favorite piping hot tea, a book, and the fire place next to him...

nothing could be better :)

until...

“what the fuck-”

tea spilled all over him and his book with the weight of the blanket = enraged satan

prepare to feel his WRatH

“so you thought this would be a great idea..?” 

turns into his demon form

threatens to try all kinds of torture methods on you and whoever was in cahoots with you for ruining his reading time >:(

satan will probably apologize to you for that and maybe to the other person depending on who it was

after that

satan will come back with his own little pranks for weeks on end

and when he finds out that you kept a recording of the little incident

:)

he’ll keep his pranks up until you finally yield

“alright. i’ll forgive you just this once, and you owe me a new copy of that book.”

“you also better delete that video if you know what’s good for you, mc.”

asmodeus:

“mc, no my hair and makeup!!!”

practically yeets the blanket off of him to protect himself

i would probably be surprised someone could yeet a heavy ass blanket off themselves but asmo is a demon so he has inhumane strength

*asmo pissed off 3000*

“mc! if you messed up a single hair on my head or ruined my makeup

*dark chuckle*

“i would’ve made sure i ruined you in more ways than one”

hHhhhH- be my guest asmo 

“oh well, i guess i’ll forgive you just this once.”

yay! forgiveness never felt so good-

“if you promise to spend quality time with just me~.”

he will literally take you out shopping the whole entire day

dresses you up in god knows how many outfits

but at the end of the day, when you both return back to the house of lamentation, he’ll take very very good care of you~

tries to bathe with you but lucifer catches wind of it :(

sore feet? asmo to the rescue!

“ne, you will delete that video right?”

beelzebub:

tbh the blanket would just feel like a normal blanket to thicc man :)

it also probably falls to the ground awkwardly

 *looks at the blanket then to mc*

“i think you dropped this”

*picks it up like it weighs nothing and hands it back then continues to eat whatever he was munching on*

whoever you’re in cahoots with either expected that to happen or is in shock with you lmao

while you’re reviewing the footage you can see beel’s muscles flex as he picks up the blanket :))))

later, beel will probably confront you about what happened 

“oh... that was supposed to be a prank..?”

seeing how kinda bummed you looked made beel kinda sad since your prank didn’t go as planned :(

what better than to make it up to you with food! :D

brings you all sorts of snacks and takes you to hell’s kitchen to make you feel better

“next time you prank me, i’ll definitely be caught off guard.”

belphegor:

is napping when you decide to try your sneak attack

as we all know, he kinda sleeps like a brick around mc so he’ll probably be indifferent to your giggles unless he gets curious

when you throw the blanket onto him

he snuggles into it

“...”

“...”

“this is really warm mc... is this what the humans call a weighted blanket..?”

belphie moves the blanket to make room for you

“why don’t you come nap with me since you’re already here..?”

snuggles and cuddles with belphie + warm weighted blanket = your heart melting :)

it’ll probably be hard to get up tho since you’re in belphie’s arms and underneath the heavy ass blanket rip

i ain’t complaining tho 

undateables

diavolo

is probably confused for a moment

until he feels the weight of the blanket

“this reminds me of some sort of torture device...”

picks it up out of curiosity until you tell him what it is

“oh! i see, you were trying to see what would happen when you threw this onto me!”

would probably ask if he could throw it at you too

but he realizes that you’d get hurt

“why dont we start a prank war?”

 but like i feel like it would be fun to have a prank war with Dia :D

plus he gets a break from all of his princely duties and you get to spend some quality time after with him ;)

poor barbatos has to clean up after most of the pranks tho :(

barbatos:

he’s doing some chores around the castle as per usual

until you sneak up on him 

or so you thought ;)

when you throw the blanket at him, barbatos catches it like it weighs nothing

he’s in a little momentary shock for a split second then comes back to reality since he was so focused on his chores

i wouldn’t be surprised bc he does do a helluva lot of things

“i hope you didn’t forget that i can see the future and different timelines.”

also knows that you recorded the little prank and decides to indulge you and let you keep it

“perhaps you can try again next time?”

cooks you up some food to make it up to you

simeon:

blinks in shock as the blanket is thrown over him

just laughs and removes the blanket

“If you were trying to surprise me, it worked.” 

he’d gently drape it over you and pull you into his arms

aklsdhjlaksdfjlk i want it too-

“i’ll have to leave soon though… Diavolo asked me to join him for tea at his castle today.”

simeon lets you go and smiles at you

“i would say don’t plan anything while im gone, but I can’t stop you.”

solomon: 

probably practicing spells or sum when you decide to strike

like some of them, he’d be shocked momentarily

“what’s this? Trying to sneak attack me?”

*queue the solomon smirk*

definitely would try to get back at you

be prepared bc this is one sneaky sorcerer

getting food at hell’s kitchen and need some ketchup?

solomon is there for you

but it isn’t ketchup ;)

its hot sauce ;)))

at the end of the day, solomon means well and laughs off all his pranks with you

bonus character!

luke:

i- why would you wanna throw a blanket at the smol child???

if you do which i hope you dont… pls do it gently

luke would probably pout and sulk at you and get rather upset

simeon would be like >:o

“how could you hurt my child?”

to make it up to luke, simeon would make sure that you bake with him

luke is down for it too, nothing’s better than a baking buddy! :D

long story short, pls PLS do not throw a weighted blanket at luke unless you want to evoke the wrath of everyone :)

[thisisawonderfulusername]

let’s save the world

season two, episode five

five hargreeves x reader

summary: gathering the family together never ends well, but at least you can relax with a few of the siblings.

trigger warnings: cursing, drinking

word count: 5k

a/n: it took me literal years to find a gif for this one. not even kidding. i ended up settling. i am also sorry about how long this took to come out, i was very busy with school and some other health stuffs😂 anywho i hope you enjoy it

you all watch as reginald’s car gets farther away, and you sigh softly. it’s the eyeball all over again. time to chase after it before it bursts into flames before your eyes.

“you know, i’m starting to get the impression that dad’s avoiding us.” you look to five, away from all the people that filed out of the consulate.

“what gave you that idea?” you chuckle quietly, shaking your head as you look down at the dress you wore, and hated. you couldn’t wait to get it off, but you frown as you notice the missing piece. “i lost my bow to choke that guy, and it didn’t even work.”

scratching the back of her neck, lila glances to the three of you. “i hate to be the boring one, guys, but we need to get the hell out of here.”

as she moves to leave, you getting ready to follow, five steps in front of you to look at the woman with narrowed eyes. “when you mean ‘we’, who exactly are you referring to?”

your eyebrows furrow in confusion as you look at the boy, and lila seems just as confused, shifting her gaze to the side for a moment. “not a lot of ambiguity in that sentence.”

five doesn’t back down- by now you’re used to that. “listen, i don’t know who you are or where you came from, but i’d advise you return posthaste.”

diego leans towards him, “five, she’s right, we have to get out of here.”

“i just saved your life, you kinder shit!” lila spits out, “if i hadn’t stepped in, all that would be left of you is a blazer and some bloody socks.”

looking to the side as you chew on your lip, you felt quite ready to leave right about now. the dress was starting to feel a little too tight, enhancing the pain you felt from the hits you had taken.

“that’s the problem.” five points out, “you’re too good, you ask too many questions. you know too much. and you fight like you know what you’re doing.”

looking back to the small group, you think about what he had said, and it was starting to make sense. “he’s got a point.” you mutter, looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow, almost asking for an explanation.

“so i know how to handle myself, and that makes me the bad guy?”

you wanted to believe she was a good person, the ‘crazy lady’ who you had met in the car who just seemed to be tagging along- but she was starting to seem more suspicious the more you hung around her.

“whoever you are, you’re in my way.” five tells her, “if i see you again, i will kill you.”

he starts to walk away, and for a moment, you’re planted in your spot, staring at his retreating form. quickly shaking your head, you leave the other two behind, catching up to him.

-

when you got back to elliott’s, you had crashed on the couch after changing back out of the dress, and as you did, you had seen that one of the punches you took left quite a gash in your side, and you assumed the only reason you hadn’t noticed it before then was because of the blood that had clotted and dried around it, or maybe the adrenaline from such a fight.

either way, it didn’t matter. you were use to getting injured by now, it was a part of working for the commission and now, apparently, it’s a part of saving the world. you simply cleaned it, put some bandaging over it, and called it a day.

now, you sat on the same rolling chair that you always claimed in the door frame to the kitchen, leaning your head against the wall as you watch luther- who had finally decided he was ready to help, apparently- made some scrambled eggs. the mug that you held, filled as much as possible with coffee, was still scalding hot, but that didn’t stop you from taking the smallest sips every so often.

diego paced the kitchen floor, “no, no, no. i don’t understand. they keep following me.”

luther doesn’t even look up from the pan, which was basically overflowing with the eggs. “who?” he questions, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“those dutch sociopaths!”

“they’re swedish, you idiot.” five corrects him, leaning against the wall across from you, “hired guns paid to eradicate us before we can do any more damage to this timeline.”

“yeah, but why now?” diego raises an eyebrow at the boy, “i mean, i’m-” he snaps his fingers, “-fine. for three months until you showed up.”

luther nods slightly, “yeah.” he finally looks away from the eggs, “i was here for a year and no one messed with me.”

looking back to you two, diego holds his arms out, looking for an explanation. rolling your eyes, you stand up, kicking the chair away from you and into the living room. “so you’re saying it’s our fault, hm?” you raise an eyebrow at them, “even if it was, and it’s not, it doesn’t change the fact that we only have six days left before the end of the world.”

nodding, five glances at you for a second. “the closest anyone’s gotten to dad was that driveway, at the consulate.”

as his stirring slows, luther looks up. “well, that’s not exactly true.”

your eyebrows furrow in confusion, and you watch as five steps closer to him. “what do you mean?”

“i saw him.”

you listen as he recounts the time he landed in the alley, when he got on a bus and went straight home- to the umbrella academy. when he arrived, there was some sort of house party going on, as people filled the building, all chatting and drinking champagne.

reginald stood with a circle of people- coincidentally talking about the end of the world and the uncertainties with time. when he walked away to get another glass was when luther stepped in, and was brushed off and humiliated in front of all the guests.

“that’s pathetic.” you all watch as the man scarfs down the eggs he had made, diego being the first to speak when he finished his story.

luther looks to him as he shovels more eggs onto his fork, “yeah, well, at least he didn’t shank my ass.”

“no, bro.” diego leans forward slightly, “he shanked your heart.”

you can’t help the small laugh that escapes you at the comment, and five looks between the two of them as luther hums in acknowledgement.

elliott enters the kitchen, looking to the large man. “is that my bath robe?”

luther looks to him, his mouth full and his eyes wide as if someone caught him sticking his hand in the cookie jar. “no.”

“look, who cares what he shanked?” five finally speaks from beside you, moving to the more important business. “he knows something about time travel.”

raising his hand slightly, elliott looks to him, “uh, why don’t you just do your thing and, uh, time travel us out.”

with a sigh, five stands up to refill his mug, and you quickly hold out your own in a silent request. “anyone care to explain?” he questions as he takes the cup, walking over to the counter and grabbing the coffee pot.

“first time he tried, he got lost in the apocalypse.” luther states.

diego is next, “second time, he ended up without hair on his balls.”

chuckling quietly, you finish, “this time he scattered us all across the timeline here- in dallas, texas, also possibly triggering a doomsday.”

five turns as he finishes refilling the mugs, looking to the man. “any more questions, elliott?”

he quickly shakes his head, and diego starts to speak again. “guys, you’re all missing the big picture here. dad is the ringleader of a sinister cabal that’s planning to kill the president.”

you take your mug back with a quiet thank you as five hands it over, and luther looks to luther with confusion written all over his face. “a cabal?”

“ignore him.” five tells him, leaning against the counter, “look, the way i see it, we only have one option.”

without looking away from his eggs, luther raises the question everyone has. “oh yeah, and what’s that?”

“it’s time to get the umbrella academy back together.”

oh god

you’re not sure if you can handle them all at once again.

diego looks at the ground for a second. “hell yeah. family meeting.”

“okay, then can one of you guys get allison?” you look to luther as he stares down at his plate, suddenly incredibly invested in his eggs.

raising an eyebrow, you take a sip of your coffee. “are you two still... uh, canoodling?”

the man doesn’t answer, only tilting his head to the side a bit. diego slowly leans towards him, “do we need to talk?”

“no, she’s married.” luther speaks through his mouth full of eggs, and you scrunch your nose up slightly.

diego nods slightly, “dude, that’s rough.” he leans back into the back of his chair.

luther forces a chuckle, “i can handle it.” the expression on his face only a second later, as you honestly think he’s close to crying his eyes out.

“i’ll get her.” five sets his mug down, and you watch as he walks towards the archway into the living space. “do you think you can get vanya without, uh, squeezing her to death?”

luther looks at him with a deadpan expression from the comment. “i’ll try.”

“good.” he looks to you, “you should go with. just to, you know, supervise.” you nod with a light laugh, though luther doesn’t look nearly as amused as you are from the light jab at him. a second later, five is gone with a flash of blue.

you down the rest of your coffee as elliott stutters for a moment. “uh, what should i do?”

with a small smirk on his face, diego looks towards him. “prepare for company.”

-

“y’all know, jell-o used to be a delicacy.”

you sit in the living room of the apartment after you had managed to get vanya, along with her, luther, and diego, as elliott goes on about the disgusting concoction in front of him.

“in order to make it, you have to boil down a whole mess of hooves... you know, horses, cows, pigs, it doesn’t matter.” fire begins to dance across your fingertips as you stare at it in boredom, your lips pressed into a thin line. “but not everybody has a bunch of hooves lyin’ around. it wasn’t until, uh, a couple of sassy new yorkers figured out how to dry it out for the rest of us to use to... enjoy this ambrosia.”

diego looks to him after sticking all his knives in a little sheath, clearly as bored and annoyed as the rest of you. “if we have some, will you shut up?”

your nose scrunches up at the thought of having to eat that... sludge, and the fire immediately dies out. “maybe.” he quickly grabs one of the bowls around the table, beginning to distribute the thing he called food.

“i’m good.” you mumble, waving your hand as he looks to you, clearly disappointed from your refusal, but you could handle that. there was no way you were going to eat whatever that was.

luther’s face is scrunched up as he watches the man scoop up the ambrosia, deciding to look away and to vanya instead. “how are you feeling?”

the woman, who was slouched into the couch with her hands resting on her stomach, glances towards him. “pretty shitty, to be honest.”

flipping one of his knives in his hand, diego looks to her. “how would you say you are on a scale from one to... ending all life on this planet?”

sighing heavily, you lean forward and rest your elbows on your knees, ignoring the searing pain in your side. “seriously? put the knife away, idiot, she’s fine.”

his gaze doesn’t move from her. “the last time i saw this one, she had me suspended midair, sucking the life out of me with energy tentacles.” he stops flipping the knife to point it towards you, “i think i’m allowed a little time to process.”

“i would love to see an energy tentacle.” elliott looks up from his creation, looking between the three of you.

shaking your head, you sigh. “no you don’t.”

vanya sits up, looking to the man. “i don’t remember what i did, but i’m sorry.” she shrugs slightly, “if that means anything.”

he looks to her for a moment before he finally stops pointing the knife around, instead holding it at his side on the armrest. “it does.” that surprised you, but at least you wouldn’t have to stand around for another family argument. “just going through a lot right now.”

beginning to speak about ‘a girl he likes’, you roll your eyes. before he’s able to speak too much, the bell on the door downstairs jingles and you can hear laughter- allison and klaus.

“anyone here?” she calls out, and you stand from your seat, as does everyone else, going to stand at the railing of the balcony.

you can tell that the two of them are at least a little drunk from the amount of giggling from the two of them. they stop to look up at the five of you, and klaus takes his glasses off. “i know this is impossible, but did we all get... sexier?”

rolling your eyes, you watch as everybody else goes down to have a heartwarming family reunion, allison and vanya hugging before klaus joins in.

“alright, let’s get down to business.” five turns and goes up the stairs, everyone else following. as they come up, you take your seat once again, all of them taking their own places around the room.

standing in front of all of you, five sticks his hands in his pockets. “first thing i want to say is i’m sorry. i know i really screwed the pooch on this whole going back in time and getting stuck thing.” diego nods slightly, and you prop your feet up on the coffee table, nudging the empty bowl out of the way. “but the real kick in the pants here is, we brought the end of the world back here with us.”

“oh my god, again?” everyone looks to klaus in silence. “all of you knew? why am i always the last to find out about the end of the- oh my god, my cult is going to be so pissed, five! i told them we had until twenty-nineteen!” he whines.

you sigh softly as you run a hand down your face, “well, better inform them it’s coming sooner than that. we have six days.”

“is it vanya?” he takes a sip from his drink, and allison scoffs, “what? it’s always vanya.”

deciding to ignore it, vanya looks to five and you turn back in your seat, shaking your head. “do you have any leads, five?” the woman questions, and diego is already handing him the file that holds the picture of their father in the knoll.

“yeah, we have one.” five tells them, passing the folder over to allison, who doesn’t waste time in opening it up.

“holy shit, is that dad?” she looks at it in disbelief, and vanya quickly leans toward her to examine the photo as well.

after a moment, five continues to explain. “we’ve been trying to talk to him about what exactly this means, so far we’ve got nothing.”

“not nothing,” diego quickly adds, “we know that he’s planning to kill kennedy.”

“possibly,” you make your entrance into the conversation, “but we don’t know who or what sets doomsday in motion.” you remove your legs from the table, leaning forward slightly, “could be kennedy, could be something that doesn’t have anything to do with him.”

five nods, “but, if we know something changes the timeline, we have to make it right.”

her eyebrows furrowing, allison cuts in. “yeah, but how are we supposed to do that if we don’t know what to fix?”

“oh, come on, do the math.” diego tells her in irritation, “we know dad’s having shady ass meetings with shady ass people. we know he’s on the grassy knoll in three days to kill the president. so i think we all know what we have to do.”

“kill dad.”

“find dad.”

the two have very different ideas, apparently, and five turns his head to look at him with furrowed eyebrows, and you have to bite your tongue to keep from laughing at the incredulous look.

it’s quiet for a moment before vanya speaks. “none of us are supposed to be here, right? i mean, what if it’s us?” she looks around, “has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?”

another bout of silence surrounds you as looks are exchanged between everyone, before luther takes a deep breath to start a circle of accusations.

“diego has been stalking lee harvey oswald.”

pointing a finger at the big man, his voice raises immediately, “and you’re working for jack ruby!”

“allison has been very involved with local politics.” klaus pipes up from his seat beside you.

“okay, and you started a cult.” she points at him, giving a mocking smile.

while klaus hissed as if he were a cat, vanya sat up in her seat slightly. “i’m- i’m just a nanny on a farm, i don’t have anything to do with all of that.”

allison looks at her, “well, maybe you do, we just don’t know it yet.”

a loud whistle catches everyone’s attention, looking towards diego. “look at yourselves. everything in our new lives is connected to kennedy. that can’t be a coincidence. luther works for ruby, allison is protesting against the government, dad’s on the grassy knoll, klaus-” he pauses for a moment, looking at the man, “is doing something weird and pervy, but it’s probably connected in some way. clearly we were sent here for one special reason. save john fitzgerald kennedy.”

rolling your eyes as everyone starts to argue, you stand from your seat, feeling a headache coming on from being around this incredibly dysfunctional family, unable to not think about how peaceful it was when you were normal for once, just working in a diner.

“guys, you all die.” you look back at five as he speaks, cutting through all of the clashing voices. “i was there. i saw it. i wish i could forget it, but i can’t. i saw russian nukes vaporize the world with all of you in it, in a war that never happened until we brought it here. hazel gave his life to save us so you may need to shut up and just listen to me.”

you frown slightly at the confession, feeling bad that he had to see his family die yet again. you couldn’t imagine seeing your family buried in the rubble of your home, or actually watching the blazing fire that wipes them out from a nuke that takes out the city.

“i don’t know if the things we all experienced here are connected. i don’t know if there’s a reason for everything. but dad will.” he looks around at his family and to you, “we need to him before everyone and everything we know is dead.”

you’re about to voice your agreement, but luther is the one to speak first. “okay. i’m out.”

with furrowed eyebrows, you watch as he stands from where he sits, already heading towards the stairs. “were you even listening, luther?” you question in disbelief.

he looks to you. “yeah. yeah, i was. i heard a fifty-eight year old man who still wants his daddy to come and fix everything.” he gives a derisive grin, “and you can count me out. it’s time we all grew the hell up.”

everyone begins to call him back, and you can’t believe what you had just heard, quickly running around the chairs and being able to step in front of him before he starts making his way down the stairs, you walking backwards with each step he takes. “you’re kidding, right?”

five appears next to you with a blue flash, and luther finally stops as he stares up at him. “no one leaves until we figure this out.”

he looks between the both of you for a second, before suddenly he’s grabbing your arm and tossing you over the railing of the stairs as if you’re as light as a feather. you yelp from the surprise, and five is gone before you can grab onto him, landing on the tile floor with a groan as you curl in on yourself.

“asshole!” you call out to him as he leaves the building, diego following after him for who knows what reason.

standing from the ground, you hiss in pain as you feel the gash in your side sting like hell. you lift your shirt slightly and peel the bandage back a bit to see that the scab that was starting to form had teared apart, and you press your lips together as you let the bandage and your shirt fall back into place.

“let’s go!” you hear klaus call out, and you see the remaining three siblings start to make their way down the stairs. “oh, y/n!” he calls when he sees you standing at the bottom, smiling slightly, “would you like to get some tacos with us?”

looking to the side for a moment, you sigh, before looking back to him. five was gone and you didn’t know when he was coming back, so why not? “tacos sound amazing right now.”

-

music played from the radio resting in front of the mirror on the table matching the rest lined along the wall in the hair salon, and allison ranted about her husband, comb in hand as she messes with klaus’ hair.

with a groan of annoyance, she continues. “the nerve of that man.” she chuckles bitterly, shaking her head, “i mean, one thing goes wrong, and he’s on a warpath! i mean, doesn’t know who i am?” she looks into the mirror in front of him, pointing the comb, “no, no. no ray, you know exactly who i am. you just can’t handle it. i’m protecting him.”

you take a sip from the bottle of champagne on the table next to you, already feeling the alcohol taking effect as you smile slightly, watching the two of them as you hum along to the music. “protecting him from what?” klaus questions, his cigarette between his lips as he raises an eyebrow at her.

“the end of the world, for one.” she responds, the irritation clear in her voice.

vanya speaks from her seat across the room, her feet propped up on top of the table. “hey, is the world really going to end in six days?”

it’s quiet for a moment, and you take another drink from the bottle. “it did last time. i saw the aftermath.” you shrug, “sure, i didn’t see this one, but five wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

klaus gets up from the salon chair, and allison puts the comb she was using to the side. “hey, wouldn’t it be weird if five grew up all hot?” he asks, moving to stand in the middle of the room, grabbing one of the extra bottles to fill up his flask. allison expresses her disgust. “oh, ew! ew! please, miss ‘luther was my lover.’“

holding her hand up, the woman started defending herself. “we have never even kissed.”

“yeah, but you guys were making little sick moon-dog eyes at each other, all through puberty and breakfasts and all that.” he argues, motioning wildly with his hands.

turning her seat around so she can look towards all of you, vanya voices her confusion. “aren’t we all brothers and sisters, or?”

klaus snorts at the question, and you look to allison as she sits in klaus’ previous chair. “well, technically, it-”

“technically?” you cut her off, sitting up in your seat with a chuckle as you look to her, “if you have to use the word technically, you’re already in trouble.”

klaus giggles from where he stands, looking to vanya for a moment, “okay, can- can we focus?” allison dismisses the conversation, “i mean, clearly, we’re not saving the world tonight, but maybe, maybe, we can at least try to save my marriage!”

“no!” klaus cries out, and you grin, “no, because that’s- that’s like asking a nun how to hump someones leg. i mean, who in this room knows shit about relationships, huh? this one-” he points at vanya, “in secret love with some... farm frau,”

“her name’s sissy.” the woman whines.

“which is an improvement from her last lover, the serial killer.” he laughs, and vanya looks very confused from that comment, her eyebrows furrowing. “meanwhile i’m carrying a torch, for a soldier i haven’t technically met yet, luther is... in love with his sister. and you!” he spins around to point at you now, and you’re surprised by his sudden call out, “y/n, you don’t even realize that you’re ridiculously in love with five!”

you gape at the declaration, not even able to comprehend the accusation, but it doesn’t matter, because he keeps on. “face it, the only healthy long-term relationship in this family, was when five was banging that mannequin.” allison crosses her eyes, falling back into her seat, “the only thing the umbrella academy knows about love,” he holds his flask up into the air, “is how to screw it up.”

the two women mutter their agreements, and you take a long drink from the bottle, sighing as you let your head fall against the back of your chair, the champagne resting on your leg.

“how do you guys deal with this?” vanya questions, and you lift your head slightly to raise your eyebrows in question, and she continues. “all of it. the time travel, seeing the dead, the end of the world...”

“well i get really high,” klaus tells her, plopping into the chair behind him, “allison, allison... lies to herself.” the woman kicks a rolling stool towards him in irritation, causing him to flinch, “y/n works herself to death helping five, and you suppress all your emotions, deep, deep down, until you... you blow shit up.”

rolling your eyes, you decide to ignore his comments, looking to vanya. “yeah, i’d like to not do that anymore.” she looks to the floor.

“well,” you stand up, stumbling slightly, “you have six days.” you look at the nearly empty bottle of champagne, and you scrunch your nose up. did you really do that?

“what are we supposed to do with six days?” allison scoffs.

klaus mutters an ‘i don’t know’ and vanya seems like she has an ah-hah moment as she sits up in her chair. “i’m going to tell sissy i love her.” she announces, and klaus looks at her with raised eyebrows, his hands up in the air at his sides, “i don’t want any secrets.” she shrugs her shoulders.

“yeah-” allison grabs her bottle and stands up from her seat, “yeah, you’re right! ‘cause if everything’s going to go tits up, the least i can do is be honest with my husband!”

klaus rests his elbows on his knees, “oh... does that mean i’m going to have to face my cult?” he sighs, “i just hate group breakups- it’s why i stopped dating twins.”

vanya throws her hands out to the side, her eyebrows furrowed. “this family is amazing.”

the other two chuckle, and you shake your head with a grin on your face. yeah, their family is incredibly dysfunctional, but at least they were connected on some level. “let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” allison giggles, and klaus stands to hug her, both of them struggling to stand upright on their feet.

they motion for you and vanya to join, and when the woman hops over to engage in the group hug, you sigh and join in, having to lean against them all to keep yourself up.

taglists:

main: @horrorklaus @megasimpleplan4ever

tua: @rasberrymay @noodlextrash @atomicpillar

five taglist: @anapocalypseinmymind @five-hargreeves-official @insatiable-ivy @coffee-e-addict @xplrreylo @fandomfreakff @colie-babi @flowertoty​

let’s save the world: @aspiringwriter1 @thetrashypanda423 @lilacs-lavender @wow-lookit-all-the-fandoms @ohmyitsfaith @xplrreylo @fandomfreakff @onedollarduck @sleepygal124 @faith-quake @stripedchickens @youcandalekmyballs @pettyjayy @libidinexx @bts-chub @theoriginalkat @flowertoty @whenyouwantdeath @ot7purple @ purblerain @megasimpleplan4ever @whenyouregrungeaff @dumdumsun

[in-tua-deep]

20 for Vanya?

20. What-ifs/Alternate Timelines

I have a lot of what-ifs and alternate timelines for Vanya lmao, especially ones that prevent the apocalypse because I’m a sucker for a happy ending tbh

What if Vanya was included? Why not? Klaus’s powers weren’t useful for missions, Allison’s story for Claire was literally like “yeah Klaus got distracted by ghosts in the background lol” so it’s not like a kid without offensive powers couldn’t do it

you have rebellious Vanya aus, where she decides, like some neglected children do, so act out. If her father isn’t going to acknowledge anything good about her, she’s going to make him acknowledge the bad. Punishment might be the only time he pays attention to her, after all.

(let’s call this an au where the pills suppress her powers but not so much her emotions)

So you have an au where she sneaks out and joins the missions. She breaks into the mausoleum and picks Klaus up and stares her father down with a challenge in her eyes. 

Five vanishes, and Vanya gets worse. She plays her violin at 2 in the morning. She refuses to eat her broccoli. she teams up with diego to see who can piss dad off the most

(her and Diego actually get along very well in this sort of au, honestly)

Vanya gets out and plays the violin and gets angry. She plays with fury and fire and gets second chair, because Helen is actually really very good. But she makes Helen work for it. Helen isn’t secure in her position, she always knows that Vanya is a step away from taking it from her

and maybe that should make them enemies, but it doesn’t. They’re rivals. Helen respects the hell out of Vanya, and Vanya can’t help but admire the woman who makes the most difficult pieces look effortless

(RIVALS TO LOVERS: VIOLIN EDITION)

Vanya writes her book. Except she kicks down Diego’s boiler room door and is like “DIEGO”

“WHAT”

“I WANT TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT HOW MUCH DAD FUCKING SUCKS”

“I’LL BE RIGHT THERE”

as one of the rebel kids, Vanya actually got along well with Klaus as well since she helped him sneak out and 100% also smoked at least some weed with him because it would piss off Reggie tbh though she didn’t get into the harder drugs like he did

(showing up absolutely plastered to breakfast when they were sixteen was hilarious even if the laps they had to run around the block were not)

anyway Klaus crashes at her apartment sometimes, with supervision, because she loves Klaus but he has a problem and has stolen from her before but he’s still her brother but regardless

Klaus-Diego-Vanya sleepovers where they brainstorm the book to shit talk their father. Honestly it’s kind of a blast. They all get super wine drunk and end up watching Mary Poppins together with some Very Loud Opinions about nannies in general tbh

klaus throwing popcorn at the screen: BOO WHY WAS OUR CHILDHOOD NOT A MUSICAL???

diego: idk if you can have cheery musicals about child soldiers

vanya: i mean if they can have a musical about child labor in factories and the starvation of the workers in oliver twist you could do something with child superheroes

klaus: EXACTLY thank you vanya

they publish the book (luther is uNHAPPY, vanya dedicates her book to ‘all my siblings who survived the Reginald Regime but especially those who didn’t’, and she gifts Reggie a copy that says “fuck you lol” and is signed by her, diego, and klaus), they continue living, they go to the funeral when reggie kicks the bucket

and then five shows up, feral and aching

and five tells vanya about the apocalypse, and vanya thinks about their father saying time travel messed with the mind, and then she thinks - fuck the old man he was wrong about her (ordinary, fuck that, she’s Vanya Fucking Hargreeves) and he was probably wrong about Five, too

and Five is wholeheartedly believed

“Let me call Diego,” Vanya says when Five tells her about the eye, “I bet he could totally wear a police uniform and get info about the eye. And if not, I’m absolutely sure Klaus could improvise a solution. He’s good at that.”

“Klaus??” Five asks, vaguely suspicious.

“We don’t talk about the Sleepover of 2012.” Vanya intones solemnly, and refuses to answer any further questions on the topic.

Harold Jenkins comes to the apartment and tries to woo Vanya or whatever, and Vanya is kind of like... “Look, Leonard. I can be your teacher for violin. It’s my job. But I am in a relationship. And also like, super gay. If you have a problem with that then I am not the teacher for you.”

Actually scratch Diego and Klaus getting called, which they do, Vanya looks at them and her thirteen year old brother and is like “wait. actually i know someone infinitely better to crack this case wide open.”

“Who?” Five, Klaus, and Diego all ask

“My girlfriend.” Vanya says proudly, called Helen up.

And Helen walks into the building like she’s at fucking war and has such demanding confidence that they just give her the information she seeks and apologize for inconveniencing her.

“Hey Vanya are we still on for date night tomorrow?” Helen casually asks after, and Five kind of wants to be her when he grows up honestly after watching her verbally eviscerate Lance or whatever the fuck his name is

“Yeah.” Vanya confirms, “Unless there’s other apocalypse stuff to do?”

“You take all the time you need, honey.” Helen says warmly, “After all the more time you take the less you have to practice.”

“I’m gonna destroy the concert piece and you know it.” Vanya threatens.

Helen sniffs, “Okay, whatever you say second chair.”

and then they kiss and Helen ditches and the others just kind of look at Vanya judgingly

“In fairness, she’s very hot and very talented.” Vanya defends herself.

Klaus nods sagely. Vanya nods back. He gets it. 

“Concert piece?” Diego asks, because he has priorities.

“Yeah, I’ve already asked for tickets for all of you and you will be attending Diego.” Vanya smiles prettily with all her teeth.

“When is it?” Five asks

“April 1st.” Vanya tells him, “And no that isn’t an April Fools joke. You will attend and you will marvel at my skill. And maybe run interference between Helen and Allison because I’m kind of afraid they’re going to rip each others throats out to establish dominance.”

“That’s the day of the apocalypse.” Five informs her.

“Not on my goddamn watch.” Vanya says, because her family will attend her fucking concert and they will make awkward small talk with her girlfriend and the fucking apocalypse has better lay down and get over itself because nothing can stop Vanya’s goddamn plans

“I can investigate Meritech more.” Diego offers, because Lance-or-whatever-his-name-is is clearly shady as shit, “I have police contacts I could go through. Hey Vanya, your concert tickets include a plus one?”

“They can.” Vanya shrugs.

“Sweet, let me see if Patch can come.”

“She’s way too good for you, bro.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth.”

Anyway the point is they all go home, and Diego goes to talk to his police contacts and Five is definitely at home for when Hazel and Cha-Cha attack the mansion, oops. 

“Whomst the FUCK.” Vanya yells, kicking Hazel in the crotch because she’s Vanya Fucking Hargreeves she knows self defense thank you very much

“Ah.” Five says. “Hazel. How’s it going.”

“Just peachy.” Hazel wheezes, “Why’d you betray the Commission?”

“Well, you know. They cut the dental. That was really the last straw.” Five says, sarcastically.

“The dental.” Hazel echoes back, nodding very seriously, “I fucking know. You know physical therapy isn’t even covered anymore?”

“No shit?” Five says, “I mean you’d think with a job as physical as ours...”

“I know.” Hazel howls, vindicated. 

“Five.” Vanya says, rolling her eyes, “The house?”

“Oh, right.” Five frowns, looking at Hazel, “I mean. Can you like, leave? And not come back?”

“‘Fraid not.” Hazel actually sounds somewhat apologetic, “You know what the Commission is like. They’re really gunning for you.”

Five nods, because really what did he expect, “Can you leave like, temporarily? I mean you’d pretty clearly outnumbered. I don’t even know where Cha-Cha is, but judging by the furious yelling she probably met our sister and brother and Luther is hard to kill. Trust me, if he wasn’t we would have killed him when we were like, eight. But for real, can you get out of our house? I mean. Storming the den? Seriously? What kind of information did they even give you?”

“They didn’t give us any information.” Hazel responds back, sounding appropriately outraged, “They didn’t even tell us you could teleport.”

“Well that’s just rude. You’d think they wanted you dead or something.” Five muses, “But seriously, get out of my house.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Hazel admits, and leaves, because honestly Hazel is chill like that and knows when he’s lost. And Hazel also has a lot to think about. Like the fact that the Commission sucks and doesn’t even have dental, and how pretty the donut lady is. 

and Vanya is just like... okay. Weird. Is that going to happen again? Probably? I mean. Okay, this day has already been so goddamn weird. This week, honestly.

And they keep getting attacked by the Commission. And Vanya finds out someone broke into her apartment and stole her meds. What the fuck. 

“Did your shitty assassin friends do this?” Vanya asks, waving an empty pill bottle.

“Why would they?” Five asks, honestly confused.

“Because they’re assholes?” Vanya says, honestly outraged.

“You got me there.” Five admits.

The combined forces of Diego-and-Patch (because Patch is actually thrilled that Diego is asking for help regarding an actual fucking crime) figure out that the eyeballs are being sold illegally

Klaus is not kidnapped so he’s fine, just tagging along and living his best life, however this also means that Klaus does not steal the briefcase and Hazel and Cha-Cha are fine

Vanya keeps Five close at hand because frankly she doesn’t want him to leave again and she did really miss him. Also if she does save the world she can lord it over Helen’s head forever. 

And so Five is around when Vanya’s powers manifest, probably because they just got targeted by commission goons again because they’re trying real hard to kill five and separate Vanya

“Holy SHIT.” Five says, very intelligently, “You have POWERS.”

“Wow. Gonna have to write a fucking sequel to the shit-talking-dad book.” Vanya says, honestly a little light headed.

And then Vanya finds out her powers are sound based.

“Oh no.” Vanya says, “Where the fuck are my pills. I am not relearning how to play the violin with-powers a few days before the big concert Five, what the fuck.”

“But you need to learn to control them!” Five protests, “They’re your powers!”

“They’re a goddamn inconvenience is what they are.” Vanya states, “I mean, what am I going to do with them? Stop a bank robbery with the Umbrella Academy? Yeah, no thanks, that ship has sailed and sunk to the bottom of the ocean Titanic style. I’ll figure them out when I’m not in danger of blasting the audience halfway across the continent.”

“Yeah.” Five admits, “That’s fair.”

“Besides, if I’ve been on that shit as long as I have, and it’s been a long time, I cannot even IMAGINE what quitting cold turkey will do.” Vanya points out, very sensibly, like a siblings who has watched Klaus go through withdrawal symptoms more than once.

“Maybe there’s extra at the manor?” Five suggests, “Pogo probably knows.”

“Oh yeah I bet Pogo knows something.” Vanya mutters maybe a little bitterly.

They go back to the mansion and the Commission is honestly pulling their hair out tbh, and they ask Pogo who kind of pales and is like “UHHHH YES I CAN GET VANYA EXTRA PILLS” and goes to get them from whatever stash

“Fucking sweet.” Vanya whispers, entirely done with this situation, “The only adult male role model I had and he hid my powers from me and betrayed me. Love that for us.”

Five shrugs, “I mean, you’re right. All of our adult role models were all kinds of fucked up.”

“You vanished when we were 13.” Vanya says, “Didn’t you find like, any other adults ever?”

“Oh let me tell you about the Handler.” Five says, and proceeds to do just that. Because let’s be real, the Handler was the only human interaction Five had after forty odd years alone it was pretty damn important

Vanya, on the other hand, has strong plans to eviscerate the Handler should the two ever meet because Five deserved way better than to be forcibly made into an assassin?? honestly fuck that woman

that’s it that’s the au

Vanya finds out she has powers and is like “i have a LIFE i don’t want to interrupt it with bullshit POWERS,,, also going cold turkey off my meds seems like a bad idea if I don’t want to deal with withdrawal symptoms during my concert for fucks sake, my gf would never let me live it down if i skipped”

so vanya takes her meds, does NOT destroy the world, makes every one of her siblings go to the concert and even invites Hazel and Agnes after Hazel betrays Cha-Cha to join team No-Apocalypse. 

and then introduces them all to her girlfriend

“Holy shit Vanya.” Helen deadpans, “Your family is all kinds of fucked up.”

“I know.” Vanya says, aggrieved, “It’s been a long fucking week. Want to go camping and help me figure out my cool sound based powers? Bet they’ll make me a better violin player than you.”

“I think the fuck not.” Helen hisses, always up for a challenge, “Let’s do this. Me and my violin vs. you and your dumb baby powers. You’re on.”

“FAMILY CAMPING TRIP.” Klaus hollers, with all the enthusiasm in his little heart.

“Holy shit this is going to be such a disaster, I just know it.” Diego mutters.

“Shut up, it’ll be nice.” Allison says, elbowing Diego with her pointy pointy elbows.

“It’s going to be a shitshow.” Vanya says serenely, because it is. That’s just who their family is. 

Wouldn’t have it any other way, though

[lovecanbesostrange]

Okay, that Ruby losing Snow thing. Remember that time traveling mess with Hook, and how in that timeline, Red watched Snow "die" in front of her eyes? Likely her only friend and true family, ouch. How exactly do you think she would go down that road, had Snow's death been permanent? Kill Regina slowly, join her, kill everyone because nothing else matter and she's going through something? How does THAT Red look like?

Hallo? Rude? MUCH! What type of message is this?! (haha, joke’s on you now, my mind is elsewhere gonna let this simmer in the drafts, because I will annihilate another way first)

Oh yeah, that moment when it looked like Snow got burned at the stake, we see the people looking with horror and get a cut with a very noticeable wolf howl. I remember.

Okay, let’s imagine Snow dying and the space-time-continuum collapsing, because now there is the paradox that Emma can’t exist. Let’s say the universe doesn’t implode and whatever happens to Emma (vanish, live outside of time kinda) doesn’t matter anyway. Because wow, Red has issues now. Was she lonley before? Yeah, but then came Snow and look, she’s in trouble, one call and Red comes (however that worked). Red lived for Snow’s happy ending, okay?! AND IF SNOW IS GONE THERE IS NOTHING LEFT!

Regina thought she had a vendetta before? I can see Red falling into a deep, deep depression. What happens when you are depressed and turn into a wolf? Would Red slip and say “fuck this shit, gonna tear some things apart and not even gonna know about it”. Could be, could be.

If Regina kills Snow as long as Red is this loyal and devoted, she would never join her. Red couldn’t be evil without a purpose. Can’t see that. (Evil!Red happens when Snow either isn’t there or Regina gets her claws into her to twist her worldview, because Snow brings misery in other people’s lives; you know it was her idea with switching cloaks so Red could go to Peter).

Hmmm... so.... Red vs Regina. That sounds fun.

---------- THIS WAS THE END OF WHAT I HAD WRITTEN AND IT WAS SITTING IN MY ASK BOX -------------------------

And now you come with this:

That scene when Snow "dies". (HI IT'S ME AGAIN, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW PEACE LOL) One of my AUs has the light draining from Red's life, at that very moment. Snow was the only thing keeping her hopeful and happy for the future, the last thread keeping her torturously kind and generous despite it all. But now that she's gone, and Red truly doesn't belong anywhere, people fear her and humans are out to kill her... She gives in to her darkness.

And she was a lot of anger and resentment bottled up, so...

Dude! Bro! Lady! Ma’am! YOU SATANISH HELLSPAWN FROM THE DARKNESS!

Is she out there rampaging against everybody who did not protect Snow? Is she hating herself so much, that she didn’t throw off the cloak and jump down as a wolf to at least try stop Regina?? Is this linked to the scene from the ep when she comes up to Charming and Hook and has murder in her eyes?! (I mean, that look was wild.)

So, guess Regina thought she was heartbroken over Daniel dying and ~maybe~ the revenge was a tiny bit overboard. But Red is worse now??? Trapped in a vicious cycle of violence over losing loved ones?!

Uuuuuh, is this a story where Red finds out who trained Regina in all her witchy ways and tries to find the Dark One herself (I mean, Red was the one to set up Snow to look for him, she knows things). Well, and I know someone living with the Dark One who would not be impressed with a raging mad woman dragging mud all over the freshly cleaned floors.........................

(Sorry, you just killed Snow White, I will find a way to bring light back into Red’s life!!!!! Take that!)

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Visits & Visions

A JSE Fanfic

This story is about a page shorter than my usual stuff, but it’s still a lot of pages. There’s a lot of setup with not as much action this time around. Chase visits more people. We check on Schneep again, finally returning to his POV. And then Anti acts like an evil asshole, because he is an evil asshole. Yeah, not much to say about this one. Hope you guys like it regardless :>

You can find the other stories under the pw timeline tag!

Chase opened the curtains on the bedroom, letting in a wash of sunlight. The bright light was quickly absorbed by the dark blue paint on the walls, but still lit up the desk and swivel chair, dresser and closet, shelves with books and knickknacks, and the bed with the nightstand next to it. Marvin, lying in bed, pulled the blanket up over his head and groaned.

“Sit up and absorb the Vitamin D, bro,” Chase said, sitting down in the swivel chair. Marvin’s cat Ragamuffin was lying on the desk nearby. On top of Marvin’s laptop, to be exact. He peeked open his eyes when Chase sat down, then dismissed him and closed them again.

“No,” Marvin said stubbornly. “I’ll eat a lemon or something instead.”

“Well, first of all, that would be really sour so, uh, maybe not,” Chase pointed out. “And second of all, that’s Vitamin C.”

Marvin groaned again, this time clearly putting on an act. He pushed away the blankets and sat up, running fingers through his messy hair in an effort to semi-comb it. “I look like shit,” he muttered.

“Didn’t you have a hairbrush in here somewhere?” Chase asked, looking around. “Oh, there.” He stood up and walked over to the dresser to grab the brush, which he then handed to Marvin.

“Thanks,” Marvin said, accepting the brush and running it through his hair. He managed to untangle some of the worst of it when he stopped and put the brush on his nightstand. His eyes were cloudy, staring out the window with a vague, far-off gaze. Then he lowered his head into his hands. “Fuck this,” he said, a sob catching onto the end of his voice.

“Oh geez.” There was a tissue box on the dresser as well. Chase picked it up, pulled out a tissue, and handed it to Marvin. 

Marvin accepted the tissue, mumbling another “thanks” and pressing it to his eyes. He...well, he’d looked better. Chase was pretty sure he’d been in bed for at least a whole day. Which, Chase had to admit, he could relate to. Sometimes it was tough. And having your friend kidnapped wasn’t easy, for obvious reasons. Jameson had been missing for about three weeks now, and Marvin was having trouble with that. True, he hadn’t reacted this strongly when Jackie disappeared, but even then, he’d had to take a week to himself. And Chase knew that Marvin was pretty close with JJ. He hadn’t been crying about it as much lately, but it would still happen, seemingly triggered by him just...thinking about the situation.

“You need to drink some water, bro,” Chase said. “Losing all this, uh...moisture isn’t good.”

“Moisture?” That momentarily distracted Marvin as he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say ‘fluids.’ You probably would’ve called that out, too.”

“Ah, fair, I guess.” Marvin crumpled up the used tissue and dropped it into the trash bin he’d recently moved near the bed. “Anyway. What’s up with you? What’ve you been doing?”

“Hey, I’m serious about that water thing. You want me to go get a glass from the kitchen?”

“I...yeah, sure. I have a hydro flask in one of the cupboards, use that, not a glass. I don’t want to knock anything over.”

“Great. Be right back.” Chase stood up and hurried to the kitchen. He quickly found the water bottle in one of the cabinets, filling it up with tap water and a few ice cubes before heading back to the bedroom. When he returned, Marvin was lying down again, slowly petting Ragamuffin, who was sitting on the pillow nearby with his head on Marvin’s neck. Chase raised an eyebrow. “That can’t be comfortable.”

“Shhhh. You don’t know the fluffiness,” Marvin said.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve pet him many many times before.” Chase handed Marvin the water bottle. “Good thing I used the lid with the spout thing. Here. Drink that.”

“Mmm.” Marvin started sipping through the attached straw while Chase retook his usual position. After a while, he said, “Soooo...can I ask you what you’ve been doing now?”

“Well I mean...a lot,” Chase said. “I’ve been visiting Schneep and Jack. Both of them are looking a lot better. You should really come with one time, they’d both love to see you, probably Jack especially. Though I mean, talking might be a bit awkward at first. You ever heard of a communication board?”

“Of course. Is Jack using one of those?”

“Yeah, exactly. Cause his, uh, talking and moving isn’t up to par yet.” Chase rubbed the back of his head. “Also, uh...I’m trying to find out more about...Anti.”

“Wh...” Marvin stared at him. He set the water bottle down on the nightstand next to him. “Why?”

“I don’t know, man, I’m ju—I’m tired of not doing anything,” Chase said. “I thought, hey, maybe if I can find something out, I can...I dunno, really. Just help a bit.” He sighed. “I mean, it’s not exactly easy.”

“Oh I can imagine,” Marvin mumbled, reaching up to scratch Ragamuffin’s ears.

“Yeah, he’s a criminal, you know? And a good one. We didn’t even know he existed until Dr. Laurens escaped and confirmed that he did.” Chase made a frustrated noise. “So I mean, looking up news sources is hard. I’ve been trying to find mysterious deaths in the area, going back a few years, but that’s still a lot. And like, he’s gotta have a base somewhere, right? Where he’s keepin—where he has supplies and shit. But how do you find that? God, how did Jackie do this? Seriously, how do you be a detective?”

“Well Jackie, like, went to school for this,” Marvin reasoned. “He knew—knows tricks. What do you mean by news sources? Like, online?”

“Yeah. Why, do you think I should go to the library? Check out old newspapers?”

“I mean...if you’re looking online, maybe he has a website.”

Chase stared at Marvin for a solid thirty seconds. “I’m sorry. A website? A website...for a guy who kills people?”

“They exist,” Marvin said casually. “You remember how I got almost killed back in March?”

“How could I forget that?” The whole story was still pretty unbelievable to him. Marvin had been working for a seemingly normal clothing shop, but because of suspicious activity, decided to look into it. And he’d soon found out that the shop was a front for some sort of smuggling operation, with firearms involved. Not long after that, he’d been attacked on his way home from work, and very nearly died. It hadn’t taken too much thought to realize the shady people behind the operation were behind the attack. “That’s the whole reason you left suddenly.”

“Yeah.” Marvin nodded a bit. “Well, I got curious. I was like, how exactly do you hire someone to kill someone else? So I took my old laptop that I left at my grandma’s house, because like, whatever, it probably should’ve been e-recycled a while ago, or whatever they do. So it didn’t matter what I searched up there, cause I was gonna get rid of it after. And I searched up stuff. And long story short, there is...totally an online market for stuff like that.”

“I...you’re serious?” Chase asked, gaping at him.

“I wouldn’t mess with you about this.”

“It just...seems unbelievable. If there were websites like this, couldn’t the police find them?”

“Sometimes they do.” Marvin’s eyes darkened. “But...there’s a whole...section of the Internet that...isn’t...good. It’s like...for that exact stuff. And if Anti was hired to kill me, he has to have some way for people to...to contact him for stuff like that. A website would be good for that.”

“Oh,” Chase said softly, looking away as he contemplated this new information. It made sense, really. It was more that he didn’t want to believe there was something like that out there. But he had to. So he took a deep breath. “You, uh...know how I’d go about finding something like that?”

Marvin nodded slowly. He gently pushed Ragamuffin away, who didn’t seem to mind and just rolled over, and then sat up. “Hand me that spiral book and one of the pencils from the desk,” he said, pointing. Chase did so, and he started writing down a few things. It took a while, since he would occasionally stop, think about something, and erase and rewrite, but eventually he tore the page out and showed it to Chase. “Here. These are some of the websites I remember, mostly because of the, uh...memorable URLs. Don’t—don’t use a computer you want to keep or have a bunch of information on.”

Chase took the page, scanning the URLs Marvin had written down. There were five of them, and...yeah, he could see why these stuck with him. “Are you gonna do some searching, too? It’d probably go faster with two of us.”

“No.” Marvin immediately shook his head. “I only have my laptop right now, and I really don’t want to compromise that with viruses or anything. That model was expensive, and it’s so much trouble to replace.”

“Oh. Yeah, good point.” Chase hesitated. “Do you...I mean, if you wanted to help me look for Anti, that would be...good. Too. In whatever way.”

Marvin hesitated. Chase could see the battle going on mentally, his usual fiery nature contrasting with the lack of energy he’d clearly been having lately. “I mean...I guess I’ll help you if you need anything,” he finally said after a while.

“That’d be great, bro. I can talk about it when I come over,” Chase said. God, he’d been doing so much visiting lately. Going everywhere, all over the place. It was...tiring. And that wasn’t even including the weekends when he had the kids over at his house. Another reason he hadn’t been able to find much on Anti was because he just didn’t have the time to do any thorough searching. But this website thing seemed easy. He could do it when he got home. “Anyway, keep drinking water. You, like, really need it. And you don’t really get it until you don’t have it.”

“Speaking from personal experience?” Marvin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chase laughed. “Ah, you caught me. But seriously.”

“Alright, Chase, I understand.” Marvin picked up the water bottle again and started to sip.

——————

As it turned out, searching for illegal websites was not easy.

Chase had an old computer that he’d been keeping in his closet for ages, ever since he got a new, better one for playing and recording games. He dragged it out, booted it up, and set it through a factory restart, since Marvin had advised against having much personal information. From there, it was a bit of...a shot in the dark, really.

The search took a while. Chase was sure that looking at these websites was putting him on some sort of watchlist somewhere, and he couldn’t help but glance around the room every few minutes. Wasn’t there a video game like this, once? Jack had played it on his YouTube channel. Some game where you searched the messed-up dark side of the Internet. Yeah, that was the one where Jackie showed up in the second episode to help him with the puzzles and stuff. But that was just a game. This was real, and he was paranoid that someone would pop up in the window, staring at him.

By the time he found what he was looking for, it was well into the night, and Chase was positive that his browser had logged this worrying activity and possibly sent it to some agencies somewhere. But the search was a success. He’d clicked on a link reading ‘Antiseptic: For Taking Care of Infections.’ Harmless-sounding, if it hadn’t been on a website that listed several other websites, all somehow involving hiring someone to do shady shit for you.

The website from the link was, admittedly, pretty professional-looking. It could have been for a proper business. But it wasn’t. This was a website where you hired a hitman. And that hitman was Anti. Chase unconsciously leaned back from the screen as he clicked around the webpages. Something about rules, something about rates, something about reviews from customers (all anonymous, of course.) And an About page. Chase hesitated, then clicked on that.

The page that popped up had a bright red banner plastered across the top, reading: ‘IMPORTANT: I am not taking any new jobs for the time being. How long, you ask? Until further notice. Why, you ask? Something needs to be taken care of. Wait for your killing. Or go hire someone else.’ Blunt and to the point, while still being vague. Chase didn’t like the sound of ‘something needs to be taken care of.’ He had the strong suspicion that ‘something’ involved Jameson, and possibly Jackie.

He should tell the police about this website, right? It could be an important lead, not only in finding Jameson and Jackie, but in catching Anti altogether. Chase thought about it, and decided he would. But just in case, he’d keep the computer around and remember this URL. So he could search through this website on his own time.

It was late. He really should go to bed. Well, he might be too anxious to, after spending so much time looking at stuff like this, but he should try. But before he shut down the computer, he decided to check out the reviews section. What sort of reviews would a mercenary have?

He glanced at a couple of them, not wanting too many details, but suddenly stopped. The lowest rated review on the front page—god, killings had ratings, that was messed up—read: ‘Left a complimentary review in March when I thought he efficiently killed the target. But now, turns out the bitch is alive, and this bastard made me pay just for the CHANCE of going after him again. And he hasn’t even done it yet! Hurry up, you’—Chase winced at the word used—‘that Irish fucker could tell anyone by now!’

It was probably just a coincidence, but...the attack on Marvin’s life had happened back in March. And Marvin was Irish. And it had happened because some criminals thought he would tell...no, it was probably just a coincidence. It was a big world, after all.

Chase quickly wrote down the website’s URL and, just in case, the path he went through to get to it. He then closed the browser and shut down the computer. This was intriguing, but he’d have to look it over more later. He had to go tell the police about this the next day. It would have to be early in the morning. He had plans. More visiting to do.

——————

By now, Chase was pretty familiar with the visiting room at Silver Hills, as well as the visiting procedure. Enter, sign in who you were and who you were there to see, go wait in the visiting room, and after a while, the patient you were there to see would show up, along with a doctor in tow. Or, well, maybe the doctor was just for a few patients, to keep an eye on the ones who were somehow risky. Either way, the procedure hadn’t changed at all. He breezed right past it today, as always, and didn’t even have time to sit down before the other door in the room opened.

“Chase, my friend!” Schneep gave Chase a quick hug. “It is good to see you again so soon.”

“So soon? It’s been a week, like always.” Chase patted Schneep on the back before pulling away. “But it’s always nice to see you. You look good.”

“Ah, thank you.” Schneep smiled, a bit nervously, twisting his medical bracelet around his wrist.

“I’m serious, Doc.” And it was true; Schneep looked better than he had in a while. His skin had more color, and he’d gained a bit of weight. He was still pretty pale and thin, but it was a welcome, and noticeable, improvement. “Like, your hands aren’t shaking anymore.”

“Hmm?” Schneep looked down at his own hands, holding them still for a moment. “Oh yes. I hadn’t even noticed.”

“Well that’s good,” Chase said encouragingly. “I mean, it’s gotta mean that they’ve figured out, like, medication and stuff.”

“Yes, I think so,” Schneep said, glancing over to the corner of the room where Laurens was sitting, working on something on a clipboard. “Things have stopped changing.”

“Great.” Chase sat down on one of the couches, patting the cushion next to him so Schneep would sit down, which he did. “Anyway, you said last week they’d be moving you back to your first room. Have they done that yet?”

Schneep’s expression brightened. “Yes, they have! Chase, it is so much improved. Even just looking through the window at the ground—well, the window does not open, which I understand, but even just that is so much better. I do wish they would let me wear my own clothes again, but I think that is happening soon.”

“Well it should.” Chase folded his arms, eyeing the plain white shirt and pants Schneep was wearing. “I don’t even understand. Is it that much of a risk?”

“Ah...” Schneep reached up to rub his neck. “Well, not for everyone. You say you do not understand, but I do.”

“If you’re okay with it, then,” Chase said slowly. “Oh, by the way, I brought you something.” He shrugged his backpack off his shoulders, pulling it around to hold in his lap while Schneep watched quizzically. “Stacy and the kids were baking, and they decided to drop some off, and I-I thought, well, I don’t know if there are like sweets in the hospital cafeteria or something, so...” After a bit of rummaging, he pulled out a plastic ziploc bag with a pair of chocolate chip cookies inside. “Here.”

“Oh really?!” Schneep gasped, immediately taking the bag.

“Yeah, really.”

“Thank you!” He wasted no time in opening the bag and taking out one of the cookies, biting into it.

Chase laughed. “I was right, huh? No sweets in the cafeteria?”

Schneep swallowed so he wouldn’t answer with his mouth full. “Well, there are sometimes. I think there is a schedule, maybe for every other day, I do not know. I only started going into the cafeteria...well, I did at the start, but then there was an incident, and—anyway, the point is, I have not been...attending, is that the word? For long enough to learn a schedule. I have only been allowed in the cafeteria and the, ah, rec room recently.”

“Really?” Chase kept a positive note in his voice. “That’s good, right? People say you need a change of environment.”

“Yes.” Again, Schneep glanced over at Laurens. “I hear it is advised. Which is one of the reasons why that—that other doctor was not good at her job.”

“Boy, you are so salty,” Chase said. “But you know what? Go ahead. She was an asshole.”

Schneep laughed.

Chase smiled. “Go ahead and be saltier than those, uh, fucking salt flats in America, or whatever.”

“S-salt flats?” Schneep was laughing so hard that it devolved into coughing. He had to take deep breaths to calm down.

“Yeah, they like, test the speeds of cars out in this spot in the middle of nowhere because it’s so flat. And it’s, like, made of salt, I think.”

“Is that a fact?” Schneep asked, amused.

Chase pulled out his phone. “Well I’m about to check if it is.”

The rest of the visit flew by. They talked about nothing, which was a welcome change of pace. Briefly, Chase considered telling Schneep about Jameson’s disappearance, as he had for the past two visits. But, just like those previous times, he decided against it. It would probably just upset him. And he didn’t even really know who Jameson was, apart from that one time he freaked out after seeing him. And that encounter certainly didn’t leave a good impression. So they talked about little things. Music, and movies, and what was happening with Chase’s kids. Small talk, yes, but it was the only chance they got to have this small talk each week.

Eventually, the time was up. Chase said goodbye and good luck, which Schneep returned, and left, heading back towards the front desk so he could check out.

Shortly after signing out on the visitor’s sheet, he heard footsteps. Chase looked up to see Dr. Laurens had followed him out. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey.” Chase nodded in greeting. “Uh...everything okay?”

“Yes. Why, are you expecting it to not be?”

“I dunno, it’s just that usually when a doctor talks to you after you finished visiting someone, it’s usually with some sort of news.”

Laurens laughed. “No, it’s all fine. Schneep is doing really well, you know, making a lot of progress. Obviously, it really helps that, ah...the head doctor is no longer holding me so tightly to regulations.” She said it delicately. “So he can actually get the help he needs.”

“Yeah, a doctor with a revenge plot isn’t exactly helpful,” Chase commented. “He wasn’t even the right person for that plot in the first place,” he added, muttering.

“Well I-I guess if you want to be blunt about it,” Laurens said. Clearly, that had never been her style. “Anyway, yes, everything’s going great. I just wanted to ask, I was going through his files recently and I noticed you were down as an emergency contact. Are you still okay with that?”

“Yeah, sure. He doesn’t really have any family who’d respond,” Chase said. “Am I the only one?”

“No, your friend Marvin is there, too,” Laurens said. “We, um, tried to contact his wife—or, uh, separated wife—Mina. She hasn’t responded, so I just thought I’d confirm.”

“Really? Did you, like, call her or mail her or something?” Chase asked, intrigued. Mina had sort of been a distant figure for a while. And even before she and Schneep separated, he hadn’t been too familiar with her. A bit odd, really.

“Yes, Schneep gave us her number and mailing address,” Laurens confirmed. “I guess he could have misremembered it, or she could have changed those. But the point is, no response. So you and Marvin are the only contacts.”

“Got it.”

“Great.” Laurens paused. “Um...do you need anything? I-I understand your other friend woke up, Jack. You’ve got to be pretty busy.”

“Yeah, really.” She didn’t know the half of it. It was...actually really tiring. But he refused to let this stop him anymore. But...Chase considered something, then leaned closer, and quietly said, “Hey, uh, you’re a therapist. Do you know any, like...other therapists? Not here, like, more casual places. That you go visit.”

“Oh yeah! Hang on a second.” Laurens flipped through the pages of her clipboard, unclipping a blank sheet at the back. She took her pen out from behind her ear and wrote something down. “Here. This is the agency I worked for before here. Well...I mean I worked here before. But then I quit and worked there, and came back here—you get the picture.” She laughed awkwardly. “Anyway, there’s a website I’ve written down there. They have listings for different therapists, sorted by specialties and methods, and including, uh, short biographies so you can get to know them a bit before you actually make a booking. So you can know what you’re looking for.”

“Thanks.” Chase took the piece of paper and looked it over. “That was...more information than I thought, really.”

“Well I wasn’t about to just recommend someone,” Laurens said. “That’s for you—or, uh, anyone who’s therapist-shopping.”

That got a laugh out of Chase. “Alright. Anyway, thanks again.” He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket. “I’ll see you next week.”

“See you,” Laurens waved as Chase left.

Yes, next week. Assuming nothing went wrong and she had to contact him beforehand. But it probably wouldn’t.

——————

The recreation room of Silver Hills was a large, wide room on the second floor. Schneep hadn’t been in there much. Of course, for a long time Dr. Newson hadn’t allowed it, on the basis of it being dangerous. But even when he first checked in, he didn’t go down to this room that often. Maybe once, to see what it looked like. He hadn’t exactly been in the right mental space for recreation at the time. Too...well, he supposed ‘paranoid’ might be the right word. He didn’t want to get too attached to the space in case this whole thing turned out to be a trick.

But now, he thought he should give it a try. Maybe it would be helpful, to have more to do. He might be able to take his mind off things.

The room had a wall with windows overlooking the front of the hospital, and two doors on the walls to either side. Because of safety concerns, the entertainment was a bit limited. For example, some rec rooms might have a pool table. Not here. Some might have cabinets with board games. Not here. But there was still several playing card games, some pinball machines, and a TV with access to television channels and able to stream movies. There were three tables, each with a cluster of chairs, a couple sofas and armchairs near the TV, and paintings on the wall as decoration.

There were several people already in the room when Schneep peeked in. Mostly patients, with a few orderlies sitting around, identifiable by their uniforms. A group was sitting at one of the tables playing a card game, a couple were at a different table talking to each other and drawing with crayons—maybe a bit childish, but Laurens had stated that colored pencils weren’t allowed—and a few more were sitting around the TV, watching. A few of them had paused whatever they were doing to look over towards the door when it opened, and Schneep immediately froze.

“You okay?” Oliver, the usual orderly, was accompanying him to the room. They still hadn’t lightened up the rule about him being able to walk around on his own, though Laurens had said she was working on it. “Do you want to go back?”

“Nein, no no, I am fine,” Schneep muttered, stepping further into the room and looking around. He couldn’t help but notice he was the only one wearing the standard-issue white shirt and pants. Was that why some of them were staring at him? Or did they just like staring at people?

“Alright, just tell me if there’s anything wrong,” Oliver said, walking in behind him and keeping to the edges of the room, as he usually did.

Schneep nodded vaguely, glancing around to give everyone in the room a second look. Unfamiliar, all of them. There was one, part of the group playing cards, who was really staring at him, but everyone else had turned away, so that was probably her problem more than anything. Folding his arms—well, it wasn’t technically folding his arms, he just sort of grabbed each elbow with a hand—Schneep walked over to the seats by the TV and sat down in the nearest empty armchair. This was fine. That one other patient had stopped staring by now and looked back at the card game, which meant that nobody was looking at him. And that was good. Well, Oliver was there, keeping an eye on things. But nobody was watching him. Really. Nobody was. He didn’t see anyone looking. Everything was fine.

Okay, time to see if he could distract himself. What was on the TV? Schneep took a deep breath as he checked it out. It was definitely a movie of some kind, live-action, but not one that was familiar to him. It had that appearance of an older movie, something in the grain of the film or the delivery of the lines giving away that it was at least a couple decades old. Huh. That was...interesting.

“Hey.”

Schneep jumped, looking to the side. A man was looking at him. Sitting on one of the sofas, near the end closest to his own chair. “Ja? Um, yes?”

“Are you new here?” The man didn’t look too intimidating. Sandy blonde hair and freckles, wearing a blue t-shirt. He had a medical bracelet on his wrist, too.

“No, not at all,” Schneep said. “Why?”

“I just didn’t recognize you. I’ve been here a couple months, I think I recognize the usual crowd in the room. How long’ve you been?”

“Um...” Schneep paused for a second to do the math. It was now November, so that was...“A half a year.”

“Oh.” The man’s eyebrows shot upward.

“Yes, I, um, have not been in this room much. I was not—things were not...not good,” Schneep said awkwardly.

“Ohhhh.” The man nodded in understanding. “I see. I’m Finn, by the way.”

“Henrik.”

“Henrik? Are you—I mean, I don’t want to assume, but your accent, uh, are you German?”

“Yes.”

“Cool. Nice to meet you.”

“Thank you. The same.” This was starting to feel a bit awkward. Or maybe it was just him, Finn seemed perfectly comfortable. Schneep turned away, looking back at the TV. “What...is this?”

“The movie? Uh...I don’t know.” Finn shrugged. “I came in when it was already playing. I think Kellie chose it. But it’s, like, something about cars? And this family where the dad’s an inventor? I don’t know. It’s a musical.”

“Hm.” Schneep glanced around the room again. Was there anything else to do? The card game group was starting something new, one of them shuffling the deck. No, no. He didn’t want to interrupt. Maybe he could ask for some drawing supplies from the two who were coloring. Laurens did a drawing exercise with him once, and it had actually been kind of fun. Oh, wait, was there someone new here? There was something moving in the corner of his vision. It could just be in his head, but he turned to look anyway—

The moment he caught full sight of the movement, he cried out, jumping backwards and awkwardly falling out of the chair. He landed on his back, legs still up in the air, but quickly scrambled to his feet, looking back towards what he’d seen.

No. Nobody was there. But it was near one of the room’s doors, what if he left? What if he was—everyone was staring at him. They all were, they all had to be.

“Are you alright?” Finn asked, a concerned expression on his face.

“I-I-I—” Schneep backed up, once again assuming the folded arms position from before. “Don’t—look at me.”

“Oh, uh, sorry.” Finn looked away.

Schneep shuddered a bit, eyes fixed on the point where he saw—he couldn’t really have been there, it must have been in his head. It’s happened before. He’s seen him before...in his head. It. It was the same now. Had to be. Just. Just in his head. Not real.

But he couldn’t fully convince himself. Slowly, he backed up until he hit the nearest wall. Oliver, who’d been sitting nearby, stood up and walked over. “Do you need anything?” he asked quietly.

“I-I—am—will go back to safe—to my room,” Schneep stammered.

“Alright, let’s go then.” Oliver gestured to the door. Not the one that was close to...what he’d seen. Schneep nodded vaguely, and walked over to the door and out, with the orderly trailing behind him. Once they were out of the room, Oliver asked, “Anything else?”

Schneep took a deep breath in, then out. In, then out. It was a relaxation technique, and concentrating on that helped. Gave his brain something to do. “I...the hospital is—is very secure, yes? You cannot break in?”

“It’d be very difficult,” Oliver agreed. “You’d need a key card. And we do have security cameras. Someone would notice.”

“Good. Very good.” In. Out. In. Out. Laurens had reassured him many times before. Anti couldn’t get in here. So what he saw...it must have been...not real.

I’m real as ever, Henrik.

Schneep almost responded, but then firmly shut his mouth. It didn’t help to acknowledge the voices. It didn’t help to acknowledge any of them, even if he wanted to. Everything was going to be okay. This was a safe place. He didn’t have to worry about anything.

He kept reminding himself of these facts even hours after the incident. Anti couldn’t get in here. It wasn’t possible. This was a safe place. Everything was going to be okay.

——————

Well that was a failed test run.

Anti flipped the keycard between his fingers, watching it twirl through the air as he leaned back in his desk chair. He hadn’t been expecting to be spotted. They didn’t know what he looked like, and he had a small disguise, just in case. He thought that hiding his scars and darkening his hair would be enough to prevent him from being noticed. But apparently, he’d left quite an impression on the good doctor.

No one would believe him, of course. Judging by that psychiatrist’s notes, the one in the turquoise notebook, spotting Anti was a common hallucination of Schneep’s. No one would know that it was real, this time. But still. It was the principle.

Sitting up straight, Anti swiveled in his chair to face a computer monitor. The screen was divided into four sections, each showing a different angle of a single room with pale yellow walls and a pair of bunk beds. Maybe four cameras was overkill, but better safe than sorry. It looked like the two people in the room were having a conversation. He turned on the audio so he could listen in.

“—never had any siblings,” Jackie was saying, slowly swaying from side to side where he was sitting in one of the chairs. “Mom wasn’t very, uh—I-I was a miracle baby. Though sometimes I joke that I had a sister, but really it was me before I transitioned.”

So I’m the only one in the group, JJ signed. He was sitting in the other chair at the table, across from Jackie. Each of them had a plate in front of them with a sandwich and a bottle of juice.

“Yeah. Unless you count Chase’s sister-in-law, but eh. None of us do.” Jackie shrugged.

JJ laughed a bit, which soon faded. I should have asked about your family sooner, Jackie. Even before...all of this happened. I’m sorry.

“No, it’s fine,” Jackie reassured him. “I mean, family was probably a thing for you, right? Considering...this whole situation.”

Jameson nodded, looking a bit paler.

Watching the conversation, Anti frowned. That was hardly fair.

Anyway, I’d much rather talk about other people’s families, for obvious reasons, JJ continued. Like...for example, your friend Henrik. He doesn’t have any siblings either?

“No. And, uh, before you can ask about his parents...they’re assholes.” Jackie’s voice turned bitter. “They don’t live here, they’re back in Germany, and he’s very glad for that.”

Ah. Sorry for asking.

“No, it’s fine. Really.” Jackie frowned, and sat up straight. “You, uh...I-I don’t remember you apologizing as much before,” he said slowly. “Are you...okay?”

Jameson started to sign sorry, but then caught himself. He leaned over onto the table, briefly hiding his head in his arms before signing, I was working on that with my therapist. But now, it’s just all...He couldn’t even find the words and just threw his hands up in the air before hiding his head in his arms again.

Jackie leaned forward and placed his hand on Jameson’s arm. “It’s fine. We’re, uh...under a lot of stress. It makes sense that you’d, uh...things would happen again. It’s not wrong or anything. I think you’re doing great.”

Anti switched off the audio and looked away. Nothing was wrong with apologizing. It certainly wasn’t something you needed to talk to a therapist about. In fact, why did Jameson even need a therapist? He was fine.

Well...no, he wasn’t. Because he was different. Anti had backed off for a bit, giving him space to adjust, and then started talking with him again. Not for very long, but he’d come into the room, Jackie would back off and stay quiet, and he’d talk to Jameson. The goal was to regain trust, but it just wasn’t working. Jameson was anywhere from unresponsive to aggressive towards him. He didn’t get it. Yes, the initial approach wasn’t good, he’ll admit that. But what else was he supposed to do? He was trying to make up for it. The room was starting to get a bit crowded with all the things he’d given him. Books, a music player, even a beanbag chair. Anything he wanted.

Well, almost anything. He couldn’t give him everything right away, otherwise there would be nothing left for good behavior.

Anti sighed. And once again, he twirled the keycard through his fingers. And it gave him an idea. What if...one of those rewards...yes, that might work.

That might work indeed.

Anti slowly grinned, and opened up his calendar to figure out when would be the best time to enact the plan that was forming in his mind.

[a-walk-in-silence]

Coffee In Time

Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!reader

Word Count: 6.6k

Summary: Some plans are made and executed, some coffee is spilled along the way, and you're stuck with revelations and a heart that is slowly trying to heal itself.

Warnings: Endgame, cursing, mentions of domestic abuse, mentions of experimentation, HYDRA, lewd comments (nothing too bad, still would be considered PG-13), crying

A/N: WELCOME TO SEQUEL X3, aka shit had hit the fan and this isn't even the climax of the story. Enjoy :) ALSO YES IK THE TONY IMAGE IS WARPED. I spent 30 minutes reediting this and every time it was fine UNTIL I saved it. So I gave up and used the least warped of the three.

Previous Part | Masterlist

The Avengers compound had broken down into absolute chaos when you and Tony arrived. There was construction happening everywhere, and anyone who wasn't on construction, like Thor or Steve, was tasked with running material for those who had the brain power to put together this giant platform that helped channel the quantum realm. At least, that was the information you managed to gather while Tony sat down the construction crew. It consisted of you, Bruce, the talking raccoon- Tony said his name was Rachet but you were almost certain that that wasn't it- and Nebula. Every once in awhile, Scott was able to help, but he was even more useless than you.

And that was saying something.

But once everything was tested and done for, everyone was gathered around a table, discussing the information about the stones and what they did, where they were in time. For this to work, teams needed to be developed, and the stones needed to be grabbed in the most efficient way. Everyone only had one back and forth trip to get the stones. It was now or never.

So everyone split up into groups, devising the best plans to get the most stones, and who would go where. What teams were the most efficient? And who would work well with who?

Currently, you were for sure on team Science Bros, aka Tony, Bruce, and Tic Tac. There was also talk about Steve joining the group, but that was up in the air given that groups were still finicky at the moment. Nothing was set in stone, but you had gathered that your group was going to New York in 2012.

You were laying on a table, a discarded coffee cup sitting by your head. Next to you was Steve, and it was silent. When discussion groups had split off, it was just the two of you left remaining, thus forcing you to have to team up. Nat had been running between groups, gathering information that they managed to discuss. But she seemed to conveniently skip over your group, claiming it was a mistake every single time. You supposed it didn't matter since you weren't talking any way. Nothing to discuss. Maybe you were just scared of the fact that your heart was clearly pounding in your chest and you knew he could hear it. Or maybe it was how your heart had melted when he hugged you several days ago, thanking you for coming back to help. Maybe it was everything combining with the fact that your heart still hurt because, deep down, you still loved him.

You shifted slightly, trying to fight the yawn that was clawing its way up. You really needed a drink of coffee, but you were so tired and couldn't even move to drink it. You blinked rapidly before rubbing at your eyes. Maybe you should just talk. At least you wouldn't be so tired.

Yet when you tried to speak, your voice failed you. You just laid there, mouth open, and unable to speak. You sighed before rolling onto your side to look at Steve. He was watching you out of the corner of his eye. This was a familiar setting, even if 5 years later. There would be nights where you would just watch him, and he watched you out of the corner of his eye. On those nights, you would snuggle up into his side, peppering the side of his face and neck with small kisses. A low chuckle would fill the room before he turned to look at you, meeting your lips in a soft kiss before chiding you to go to bed. It didn't matter that he had been awake just as long as you had been at that moment. It was all in good fun, and he would talk to you until you fell asleep. Those were fond memories.

Under different circumstances, you would have done just that. But 5 years made a difference. 5 years of silence made things awkward, even if things felt familiar. There were no playful kisses to be shared right now. The wound was still fresh, even if old. Too many unresolved issues left untouched made it difficult to speak.

But it needed saying. If you were going to have to work with him, you needed to talk this out.

"Why'd you do it?" you finally asked, studying his face. It contorted in pain as he glanced back up at the ceiling. "Don't look away. Why did you ignore me? I… I was scared, Steve. And you just left me. You abandoned me. Why did you do that?"

He sighed before rolling over to look at you. He was now a few inches away, his hot breath fanning across your face. "Listen, why I did it doesn't excuse that I ignored you. I was trying to get everyone together. But every time I would manage to find someone, they were gone before I could make a difference. I didn't want you to see me fail."

Your heart broke just a little bit in your chest. You had always imagined just why he had ignored you. Spite, anger, because he could… You never imagined that it was because he didn't want you to see him fail over and over again. Yeah, it didn't make it okay, but you definitely looked like an ass. Well, both of you did, frankly.

The idea made you laugh, and the look that crossed Steve's face made you laugh harder. He looked so confused and lost, but you couldn't stop laughing to explain why.

"What's so funny?" He asked, playfully poking you in the side. A smile even managed to grace his face as he watched you giggle like a maniac.

"I-I'm sorry," you said, trying to get your breathing under control as the laughter slowly died down. "I know that was a serious response to a very serious question but geez, we look like a bunch of assholes, don't we?"

He looked absolutely flabbergasted by your remark for a moment before he chuckled, shaking his head. "Your take away from this entire thing is that we're assholes?"

You playfully gasped, pretending to "clutch your pearls". "Doth my ears deceive me? Did you just curse in the presence of a lady?" You tsk'd, shaking your head. "Even Peggy would be appalled."

"Not when it's you that's the being cursed at," he teased back. "Her messy child that wasn't even her child. She would probably say that the term fit you quite nicely."

You stuck your tongue out at him before laughing, glancing down at the table. "I'm sorry I didn't let you talk. You're still a dick, of course, but I should have heard you out."

"No, I'm sorry. I should have texted you and let you know why I couldn't visit you." Your eyes flickered back up, meeting his bright blue eyes. "It was a terrible thing to do, especially to someone that I loved."

You raised an eyebrow, never breaking eye contact. "Loved?" You asked, shifting closer to him.

A smile broke out across his face as he also moved closer to you. "Love."

The barest hint of a smile grazed your lips as your eyes momentarily flickered down to his lips before returning to his eyes. He was so close that you could feel his heartbeat. Or maybe it was your own. It didn't matter, really. Because right here, right now, in the secluded room, you could kiss him and no one would know but the two of you. You could work on becoming a team again instead of just another person that had come and gone in his life.

No one would know that you shifted closer, or that your eyes closed as you leaned closer, ready to kiss him. They wouldn't know that there was a sharp intake of breath from Steve, reflecting the panic that the two of you were feeling as your lips got closer and closer to his.

"Hey guys, said I wouldn't forget to stop by and check on you this time!" said the voice of a very cheerful Natasha as she walked into the room. It was very clear from her voice that she had been standing in the room for a long time, just waiting for the perfect moment to speak up. She definitely was having a good laugh over this in her head.

You and Steve jumped away from one another and, in the process, knocked over the cup of coffee that had been resting just behind your head. "Shit!" you said, clambering off of the table to try and save the mess as best as you could with crumpled up paper that was strewn about the room.

"Did I interrupt something?" Nat teased before putting on her serious face. "I think we have the groups figured out, as well as the points in the timeline that all of the groups are going to. Either way, I think it's time for one last meeting before we do this thing, so you guys should head to the meeting room."

With that, she left the room, leaving a sense of hope and… well embarrassment. You glanced over at Steve, knowing you probably looked like a giant tomato. But he did, too. Had you really almost kissed him for the first time in years?

A part of you was scared that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be the same. What if the spark and energy was gone? Had resentment done too much damage?

Well, you certainly weren't going to find out now, you had a time heist to commit.

When you arrived, the meeting started right away. There were three main groups overall. Team Space, Team Asgard, and Team New York. Team Space, being Nat, Clint, Nebula, and Rhodey, would be going to 2014 and tackling the soul and power stones. Team Asgard, otherwise known as Rocket and Thor, would go after the reality stone. And Team New York was you, Tony, Scott, Bruce, and Steve. Since you had to go after three individual stones, being the space, time, and mind stones, you were allotted the biggest team. Each group had its own breakdowns past that, but that wasn't important. All that mattered was that Tony and Scott would get the space stone, Bruce would go after the time stone, and you and Steve were going after the mind stone.

"So it's settled. Rest up and tomorrow morning we'll tackle this thing for realsies." Nat looked at everyone in the room, and you could see the tears brimming in her eyes. "Tomorrow, everyone will be back to life. I just know it."

The group then dispersed, heading to sleep for the night. Your nerves were on edge because you knew Steve would want to talk to you about the almost kiss and you really couldn't do that right now. Your mind wasn't really caught up with the rest of you and right now this time heist was more important than some almost kiss.

So you ducked out of the room, choosing avoidance over confrontation. And yeah, sure, okay, maybe you should handle your problems and not run away, but he ran away 5 years ago. So what if you were an asshole? You were nearly certain it would get brought up on the mission anyway and make everyone feel awkward as hell because they definitely had to listen to it. You were sure it was going to be fine.

So you went to your room, fully prepared to sleep only to find that Steve had definitely somehow managed to beat you there.

"Look, if this is about earlier-" you started, stretching your arms out in front of you as some kind of physical barrier, but Steve cut you off.

"No, no. It's not. I just…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at his feet. "Be safe tomorrow, okay? You weren't there for the battle. And I'm sure we're hitting the tail end of it, but still. If you get hurt-"

This time, it was your turn to cut him off, placing a hand over his mouth. "I'll be fine. It's not like I'm fighting some kind of mad Titan or anything. Might have to kick a few people's asses but nothing extreme. There's nothing to worry about." You lowered your hand, giving him the best smile you could muster. "We're going to be okay. You should sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow, and I imagine it's going to feel twice as long as usual." A low chuckle came from Steve as you calmly brushed a hand across his cheek.

Before you could pull your hand back, he grabbed it with his own, holding it tightly. "Can I stay the night? Just to know you're okay?"

"Steve-" you started before looking into his eyes. You could see the pain hidden behind them that he tried desperately to hide. You knew somewhere, deep down, that he was remembering how you looked when you came back from Titan. Sighing, you nodded. "Okay, you can stay, but only because I know you're thinking I'll disappear in the middle of the night. Don't know why when that was always your thing, but whatever." You gave him a playful smile before pushing him onto the bed. "I hope you brought pajamas, otherwise sleep is going to be very uncomfortable for you."

"I've slept on ice before, I'm sure a plush bed won't make much of a difference." You rolled your eyes as you rummaged through your drawers, grabbing your own pjs. "Besides, I'm sure this will be the best sleep I've had in 5 years."

"Close your eyes," you said, changing the topic. He raised an eyebrow at you, looking you over once. "I want to change clothes so close your eyes."

A huge smile broke out across his face as he sat up on the bed. "Y/N, I've seen you-"

"Steve!" You cut him off by throwing a random piece of clothing from your drawers at him. "Go stand with your face in the corner. Now." He rolled his eyes but obliged, moving to the corner with his back facing you. "Now stay. If you turn around to look, even once, I swear that I'll kill you."

"That a threat?" he asked, slightly turning his head to look at you, a teasing smirk settled on his face.

"It's a promise, now turn around!"

He did so, and you quickly changed. Before he could turn around again, you quickly ducked under the covers. "Okay, I guess you can come to bed but only if you turn the lights off."

You were nearly certain he said something stupid or sarcastic under his breath, but you couldn't be sure. He turned off the lights and joined you in bed, making sure to keep as much of a distance from you as possible.

Your heart was racing in your chest, but you definitely had to go to bed. So go to bed you will. In just a moment. Any moment now…

Yep, definitely now...

Okay, now.

... Really?

You rolled over, glancing at Steve. His back was turned to you.

"Iloveyouokaygoodnight," you rushed before turning back around, heart racing even faster in your chest. You heard him laugh and felt the bed shift as an arm wrapped around your waist from behind, tugging you over until your back was pressed against Steve's chest.

"I love you, too," he replied, kissing the top of your head. The bed settled as his head plopped onto the pillow. "Goodnight."

So you fell asleep. It was definitely the best sleep in the past 5 years. Apparently Steve was right.

Sometimes.

The next morning was chaotic. People were running to and fro, getting ready. Some were stuffing their mouths with food as they were handed the new nano suits. The coffee machine was conveniently full, so you poured yourself a big mugfull and downed it within five minutes.

Everyone gathered on the quantum tunnel platform, decked out in the suits. You were thankful that Tony had let you redesign them. The original white and red design was absolutely horrible. These new ones looked much better, and everyone agreed much to Tony's annoyance.

"See you in a minute," Nat said once everyone finished calibrating their GPS systems. There was a unanimous smile shared with everyone before you all were sent barreling through time.

When your feet landed in New York, you glanced around. "Yep, we definitely hit the right time," you mumbled. Everything was completely destroyed. "Right, we all have our missions so… let's go kick some ass! Well not really. Not if we don't have to."

Everyone split up, going their own separate ways. You and Steve snuck into Stark Tower, managing to dodge all the cameras.

A few minutes later, a voice came through. "You know, Cap, that suit really didn't suit your ass," Tony remarked.

"Tony…" Steve warned, glancing around a corner.

"I disagree," you said, a cheeky smile settling on your face. "It definitely made watching him walk away fun."

Steve sighed, lightly banging his head against the wall in annoyance.

"Mr. Cap, sir, I'm with Y/N, that is America's ass!" Scott added, clearly excited to join the conversation.

"Can we focus?" Steve asked, sounding even more annoyed than before.

"Scepter's on the elevator. Your turn, Cap."

You nodded to Steve as he hurried for the elevator, hoping to jump in before they got too far down. Meanwhile, you used the convenient staircase right next to the elevator to go to the rendezvous floor so you could meet up with Steve when he had the scepter.

You waited only for a couple minutes before he strolled out of the elevator, holding the case. When you glanced inside, everyone was still standing. "What?"

"Don't ask." He kept walking, so you sped up to keep up with him. Your escape out was just across the glass walkway when you saw it. Well, rather him.

You ducked into a room, dragging Steve with you. "Y/N, what the hell-?"

You put a hand over his mouth. "Past you is patrolling across the walkway. I'm going to distract him, but you need to use the scepter to knock him out, okay?"

He looked confused but, before he could stop you or ask questions, you were out the door. You tried to keep your footfalls even as you passed by past Steve. You kept walking for a few feet before you heard it.

"Hang on, Agent L/N?" You turned around, seeing him watching you with confusion. "What are you doing here? I thought you were working on ground surveillance. And are you okay? You look different. Did you change your clothes?"

You gave him a smile before closing the distance between the two of you. "Well, okay, I had been working ground control but then I just… well, I had to see if you were okay, you know? I worry about you considering you haven't been out of the ice long. Plus, I can't lose my coffee buddy already."

He still looked really confused but didn't question why you were closing the distance between you. "I think Fury's gonna notice your missing. Y-You should get back soon."

But then you were there, in front of him. He looked nervous to say the least, as if he was struggling with his own feelings. Huh. Maybe he did like you as long as you had liked him.

"Steve, I need to tell you something." Your hand was on his shoulder, keeping him in place and forcing him to keep his eyes on you. "It's important. You know, I… well… I think I like you. A lot. And I've been really struggling with telling you this and when I thought I lost you… well, I had to tell you."

His body stiffened for a moment, clearly taken aback by your blatant confession. But there was that hope in his eyes, you would recognize it anywhere. And so, while he struggled to decide what to do, you decided for him by kissing him. Once again, he became tense before melting into the kiss, hands gripping at your waist to hold you in place. It was weird to kiss past him, you noticed. Of course you knew he could kiss, but he was so clumsy and nervous in those first few months. You had forgotten just how unsure those first few kisses had been.

The moment you split apart, a smile found its way to Steve's face. "Wow, I had no ide-"

And then he was down. And your Steve definitely did not look pleased. You pursed your lips, already coming up with a thousand different excuses when he started talking.

"You kissed him?" he asked, quite loudly as he waved the scepter around. "Did you really have to kiss him?"

"Steve, I-" you started, but he cut you off.

"Y/N!"

"We have to go!" I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the escape route that you had mapped yesterday. He looked ready to argue and yell, but you needed to get out of Stark Tower first. And then you could cover your ass.

Once you were outside, Steve really amped up the theatrics. "Why in the hell did you kiss him, Y/N?"

"He was not a him, it was a past you!" you retorted, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "And why does it matter? It distracted him!"

"Because! You wouldn't even look me in the eye yesterday after we almost kissed!"

And there it was. The fight you knew was coming.

You sighed, ignoring his droning on for awhile about how it just wasn't fair to him that you clearly had a preference for someone he wasn't anymore. It was complete bullshit, but he really just had a lot to say. So you let him talk for about another minute before you silenced up with a quick peck on the lips.

"There, are you happy?" you asked, taking a step away from him. "I didn't kiss past you because I wanted you to be old you again. I kissed him because-"

Steve cut you off my kissing you, hands finding your waist. Maybe it was the fact that you hadn't kissed in five years, but the kiss was absolutely magnetic and filled with more passion than any kiss in the past had. The two of you stumbled backwards until you were sandwiched between Steve and a car. You heard the scepter clatter onto the hood as your hands wound their way into his hair, tugging gently to try and keep him there longer.

You weren't sure how long it lasted, but you were certain it ended when Tony cleared his throat. "Yeah you have an audience so save the makeup sex for afterwards."

Steve was the first one to pull away from the kiss, but his body kept you pinned to the car as he looked over at Tony. You also glanced and noticed that they were missing something very important.

"Where's the Tesseract?" Steve asked, looking between him and Scott.

Before Tony could answer, Scott jumped to his feet. "We screwed up! We screwed up!" He threw his hands in the air. "We had one chance to get this right, one chance! But then past Hulk knocked into Tony, the Tesseract went sliding to Loki, and he took it and ran. He took it and ran!"

"Tic Tac, you're repeating yourself," you said, piping up. Yeah, maybe you should be freaking out, but you saw the wheels turning in Tony's head. And they were definitely turning in your head. There was a plan brewing. And you were on the same page.

"I think I know where we can get more PYM particles," Tony said, quieting Scott who had been rambling after your remark.

"And the Tesseract," you added. Steve looked at you in confusion before taking a step away from you. You walked over to Tony, a smile perched on your face. "It's a shot in the dark but if Aunt Peggy's stories were right-"

"And they usually were," Tony said, interrupting. You both were adjusting your GPS trackers as you talked. "A little military installation in New Jersey."

"You might know the place, Stevie." You watched as the cogwheels in his head turned, but slowly he was getting it. "The idea of Captain America was born there. And we all know some of the people that were there."

"My dad, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Peggy." Tony was surely smiling now as you both settled on the date before looking at Steve.

"My mom was there." You nodded at Tony, the date holding a special meaning to you. It was… well… "Suit up, Rogers and come join us. The date is November 20, 1970."

"Lang, you're going back to the compound," Tony commented. Steve walked over and you fiddled with his GPS, inputting the correct date.

Scott, who watched this entire spectacle, was bursting with confusion. "What's happening? Guys, if this doesn't work then there's no coming back!"

Tony rolled his eyes before nodding. "Thanks, pissant. We've got it from here. Even if I am 20-80 on this succeeding."

"Don't sell yourself short, it's at least 22-78." Tony and Steve laughed at your joke before everyone nodded to one another. Once you suited up in the quantum suits, you pressed the button on the GPS, going further back in time to try and fix this monumental screw up.

When you landed in New Jersey, you used the stealth suits to mimick the outfits of everyone else. You absolutely hated the pencil skirt but you bit your tongue as the three of you moved about the compound.

Before you all walked onto the elevator, Tony turned to the two of you. "You're going to the medical and science wing. Hank should be in his office if you remember where it used to be, Y/N. But I have to get off before you on artifacts. I can get the Tesseract by myself. Plus I can't imagine staring at one of you lovesick puppies."

"Speak for yourself. I had to watch you get married, puppy." The two of you stuck out your tongues at one another before getting into the elevator. Inside was a lady that you could have sworn you had met before. She was one of Aunt Peggy's friends? Maybe? You were sure she had been at dinner parties before. But her name was evading you.

"Where are you going?" She asked, eyeing Steve suspiciously. Tony quickly stepped in front of him, trying to cover his face.

"'M headed to artifacts. Newbie and the lass are going to the medical bay," he answered before turning towards the door. She gave everyone a confused look before shaking her head and pressing buttons on the panel. The elevator lowered a few stories before coming to a stop. Tony walked out, shooting one final remark before the doors closed.

A few stories later, it hit you what her name was. Octavia! Of course!

Once the elevator came to a stop, you turned and smiled at her, waving. "Bye Octavia, have a lovely rest of the morning!"

"You too, Lenora," she said, returning to her magazine.

Your blood went cold as you froze, watching the doors close behind you. It had been years since you last heard your mother's name. You weren't even sure you ever used it when talking about it to Steve. So hearing it used so casually?

It actually stung a little.

"Come on," Steve said, grabbing your arm and pulling you away. He ducked into a little alcove that had a wall phone, hiding you away in the corner. "What's wrong?"

"She called me by my mom's name," you mumbled, looking down at your feet. "I know it's dumb but… I hadn't heard her name, not since Peggy passed away. The last name she called me was Lenora, you know. I guess her muddled mind forgot me and… I dunno… I never met my mom. So being called her name… it hurts."

"Hey, it's okay to be upset." Steve grabbed your hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "We can talk about this later, but we need to get these PYM particles. So you stay here and be lookout, and I'll go grab them, okay?"

With that, he made a quick call using the phone to Hank's office, drawing him away with a fake emergency. Once Hank was gone, he ducked into the office, leaving you alone in the hallway.

A door on the opposite side of you opened, and out walked a stream of doctors. You studied them with confusion as they all walked away, the final one putting the clipboard in the door slot before leaving. A part of you knew you should stay focused on the task at hand, but you felt drawn to that door for some reason. You couldn't put your finger on it, really. But it was calling to you.

You cautiously went to the door and grabbed the patient file. The information it contained was just horrible. It detailed experiments done to a human embryo to embody it with the energies of the Tesseract and how it lead to the miscarriage of Patient #001's child.

And the worst offense was the name written on the top.

Lenora L/N.

You quickly returned the clipboard to it's slot before glancing into the giant window that sat beside the door. Inside, on a hospital bed, was a crying woman- no, girl. Your mother had only been 16 at the time. She was so young. And they had impregnated her to see if they could… could what? Play God?

Tears were spilling from your eyes by the time Steve left Hank's office. "Y/N what are you doing? We need to-"

"That's my mother," you said, eyes never leaving her crying form. "Aunt Peggy always told me she suffered through miscarriage after miscarriage. I even knew today was the first one. She always said that the Doctors told her it had something to do with a volatile uterus. I was her miracle child after 14 miscarriages. They said she had an abusive boyfriend who became her husband. He was obsessed with having a child and kept forcing her every year to get pregnant. Maybe that was the story the Doctors told her, but it's not true."

"Y/N?"

"They were imbedding the embryos with the power of the Tesseract. They were trying to create a new breed of super soldiers. And they did it under her nose. They used my mother." You tried your best to control your anger, but it was really starting to boil over. "What if I was just one of their creations? What if Peggy and Daniel didn't step up and take me in? I would just be another Winter Soldier." Something changed in that moment. Energy sparked through your body. It was like something broke in your mind, some kind of barrier that had been hiding away a part of you. But now it was here. Now you were here. A doorway suddenly appeared before you, leading directly to your mother's bedside. You didn't pause to ask why, or how. The pieces were connecting somewhere in your brain and that was all that mattered. Without hesitation, you stepped inside, the door closing behind you.

The room was silent, mostly. The only sound came from your mother as she silently sobbed in the hospital bed. You walked over to her, no longer feeling any hesitation. These doctors had taken your mother from you. They wanted to take away your freedom, your life… well no more.

You leaned over the bed, gently brushing the hair from her face as she cried. You were only minorly aware of the fact that your skin was now glowing blue. Maybe you would have been panicked, but you were transfixed. You really did look like an exact copy of your mother when you were 16. It was odd. Almost like looking in a mirror. All of the anger dissipated from your body. You wanted to tell her to run, leave, but something stopped you. Instead, you did something else.

"Shhhh, don't cry," you said, running a soothing hand over her tear-stained cheeks. "It'll be okay soon." Her tears slowly stopped as she took you in, both confused and unsure of just who you were. "You don't know me yet. Well, I don't know if you ever will. But this pain is only momentary. One day you'll hold a little girl in your arms, messy and crying as she faces the world for the first time. You'll love her more than anything in the world. And she'll love you, too."

Slowly, a gentle smile filled her face as she nodded, tears still in her eyes. "Y/N."

You were choked up, nodding. Tears were welling in your eyes too as you took her hand in yours. "Y/N."

You wanted to say more, tell her about your life and just what you went through, but you definitely heard the commotion outside. You let go of your mother's hand and walked to the door, opening it. Outside was someone who you hadn't seen in a long time getting up in Steve's face.

"Uncle Daniel?" you asked, tilting your head to the side. It never occured to you that he didn't know you yet, and wouldn't for another 15 years. So when your mother's name came out of his mouth, you were taken aback.

"Lenora? Why are you out of bed?" he asked, looking around in confusion. "And wearing a military uniform?"

You glanced over at Steve, unsure of how to go about this, when someone else decided to join the conversation.

"Ah, Daniel, I was just looking for you and- Steve?" It felt like a whiplash to see both your Aunt Peggy and Uncle Daniel standing in front of you. The last time you saw either one of them was when Peggy had been dying. And Daniel? It had to have been over 20 years.

"Okay, listen, I-I need to tell you guys something," you started, sending an apologetic look towards Steve before looking at them again. You moved so you were standing between him and your uncle and aunt. "I know this will sound insane but I am not Lenora. I'm her daughter, from the future. And… yes. This is Steve. Steve Rogers. Captain America. He's also from the future. We came here together because I wanted to see my mom, we just mixed up the time of events a little bit." You showed them the GPS around your hand before continuing. "I know I sound crazy but it's true. In 15 years, Lenora gives birth to a little girl, Y/N. She'll pass away a few days later from complications with the birth. But you'll take in that little girl. You… you took in me. And, God, you were such a hardass but you always took it easy on me. A part of you knew I just couldn't focus or sit still long enough. But you gave me the patience I needed and I learned, Aunt Peggy. I learned because you were the most important person in my eyes. I admired you. And Uncle Daniel, when she went extra hard on me you always were softer. You gave me ice cream when I cried and hugged me until I fell asleep. If I cried, you cried. And I know, Aunt Peggy… I know. My emotions were always from the Sousa that runs in my blood. No amount of training could ever get rid of them. You two gave me the best childhood I could ever ask for. You told me stories of Steve, about how heroic and brave he was. I never thought I would meet him until he was dug up out of the ice. And it's because of you that I'm here."

You didn't realize it until now but you were crying. You quickly blinked, rubbing away the pesky tears. "You two are why I'm here today and I love you both with all of my heart."

When you looked at them both, you knew they believed you. Peggy still looked skeptical, but that was natural for her. But Daniel… he was crying, too. You reached out and squeezed both of their hands, smiling. "I have to go, now. Just know that even when I'm being a stubborn brat or a bit of an ass, I love you both. I'll never say it enough but it's true."

Peggy finally broke, enveloping you into her arms. "If this is just Lenora pulling a prank, I swear you'll be stuck in this compound another 20 years." You both laughed before she pulled away. "Right then. No child of mine has ever learned to slouch. Stand up straight." There were a few tears in her eyes, but you did as she said. "And Steve…" she glanced over at him, a soft smile on her lips. You knew your Aunt Peggy, and you knew she had a lot to say. But the sad smile on her face told you that she wasn't going to. "Do keep her safe. If she truly is as unruly as she said, she'll need someone to catch her when she falls."

"Wouldn't dream of letting her fall without me. Can't upset either of my best girls, now can I?" You saw that small flicker in Steve's eyes, like he was really scared to see Peggy again. Maybe a part of him worried that he would fall in love with her all over again. But then he saw you, and he knew that she could never compare. "I'm glad you had a good life, Peg. I mean it. Daniel's a great guy."

"Compliment appreciated, Cap." Daniel limped over to the large viewing window, taking a look inside before leaning against the glass. "Nora's sleeping inside, by the way," he added in Peggy's direction. "So. Y/N. I do like the name. Always wanted a daughter named that." He smiled brightly at you. "Go kick some ass, kiddo."

"You know it." You and Steve were about to leave before you stopped, turning to look at them. "Don't go so hard on Anthony. It's not his fault his dad is a genius, billionaire, philanthropist. He's gonna be alone one day. He'll need you more than ever."

With that said, you grabbed Steve's hand and bolted. Once on the elevator, he turned to look at you. "You know you just made some kind of alternate timeline, right?"

You laughed, leaning against the wall. Octavia was missing, so you hit the button for the ground floor. "A timeline where Tony can actually rely on Peggy and Daniel and not be miserable? I'll take it any day. Maybe I'll have a sibling who doesn't detest that Peggy was easy on me."

Once top side, the two of you ran into a shell shocked Tony, who was watching a car drive away. You didn't have to question who it was. "Howard?"

He nodded before looking over at your puffy eyes. "Your mom?"

You laughed, rubbing at your eyes again. "Mostly Peggy and Daniel."

Tony shook his head, tsking as he did so. "She always knew how to make you cry as a kid. Clearly much hasn't changed."

The three of you refilled the PYM particles in the GPS before resetting the time to the date you left. The three of you shared a collective nod before pressing the button to head back home.

For the first time in a long while, things seemed to be looking up. Well, minus the fact that you had some kind of powers that you didn’t even know about your entire life.

But hey, that’s totally normal. Right?

Right?

----

Next Part

Taglist: @thedaydreamingwriter @hollandroos @tomhollandd @and-drew-101 @cxptain-capsicle @jinthusiastsss @janieavalos

[aion-rsa]

10 Injustice Characters the DC Animated Movie Needs to Get Right

https://ift.tt/3fCncB7

As we wait an announcement pertaining to the existence of NetherRealm Studios’ Injustice 3, we at least know that Warner Bros. is set to adapt the games into a DC animated movie.

Ever since its release in 2013, the Injustice franchise has not only become a staple of NetherRealm’s roster, but the comic spinoffs have made it a beloved part of the DC multiverse. The plot revolves around a reality where the Joker was able to mess with Superman so badly that the Man of Steel gradually became a mass-murdering dictator, with the support of several members of the Justice League. Left without any other option, Batman brought in counterparts of the Justice League from the “mainstream” universe to help him fight a civil war against his former friend. It was a story that merged the Justice Lords two-parter from the Justice League cartoon with Marvel’s original Squadron Supreme comic series.

A popular prequel series was released, mostly written by Tom Taylor, that explained the five years in-between Superman killing the Joker in cold blood and Batman’s last stand. Sometime later, the game’s story was adapted into the comic Injustice: Ground Zero. And the Injustice universe has only continued to grow since then.

As snazzy as NetherRealm’s story modes are, they are going to have to make some changes to the narrative for the animated movie. It’s not like every character is going to stumble into exactly four best-two-out-of-three fights in a row before someone else is the focus. Knowing that there will be alterations, some characters are really going to need some tender love and care.

Superman (Both of Them)

Injustice: Gods Among Us didn’t invent the idea of an evil Superman, but things are a bit over-saturated these days. Face it, “Dark Superman” has been done to death, what with Brightburn, The Boys, Invincible, and everything Zack Snyder intended with his Justice League movies.

It’s important that the animated movie really get into the WHY of what turned Superman evil instead of the Joker just getting a tragic win over him. The Injustice comic nudged him over and over again with multiple betrayals and manipulations before he finally snapped and angrily broke every bone in Green Arrow’s body. Hit all that, or at least enough of it.

More importantly, Injustice is a story of two different Supermen. The mainstream Superman has to ring true. He has to be the beacon of hope and positivity that pop culture has been missing for the past decade.

Ultimately, as long as they don’t do that minigame where Superman blows up cars and the people in them with his eye-lasers, we’re cool.

Batman

In this DC take of Marvel’s Civil War, Batman is by default the better person when compared to Superman. He has a line he won’t cross and that means no murder and no tyranny. That said, he still needs to be portrayed as a flawed hero. He may be competent, but he still behaves like a total douche at times and deserves to take one to the chin every now and then.

Being a paranoid futurist who buries himself in contingency plans means alienating allies, friends, and even family members. There’s a great moment in the Injustice comic where he reveals that he infected Cyborg with a virus within a week of meeting (you know, just in case), which Killer Croc says is outright sinister. It’s this kind of behavior that led to Superman’s fall to darkness, because even if Bruce wasn’t behind any of the horrors, he still chose coldness and paranoia over being there for a friend who was going through some serious shit.

Harley Quinn

A hype trailer for Harley painted her as a major protagonist in the first game but the game’s story mode just didn’t measure up. The comics did a better job and the Ground Zero volume was specifically about telling the game’s story from Harley’s perspective. I’m not saying that she should be joined by her team of BFF henchmen from Ground Zero, but she should definitely be a prominent hero.

Similar to the Mark Waid comic series Irredeemable and Incorruptible (also about an evil take on Superman), Harley’s turn to heroism is the universe’s response to Superman’s actions. She’s done some horrible things and may never make up for her actions under the Joker’s thumb, but she’ll keep fighting to stop Superman’s atrocities.

Wonder Woman

While Batman did a bad job trying to pull Superman from the darkness, Wonder Woman succeeded in pushing him in. It’s noted here and there, but this Wonder Woman was also altered by tragedy. In this timeline, Steve Trevor turned out to be a Nazi traitor. His betrayal left Diana feeling much less optimistic and hopeful than her mainstream self.

Wonder Woman’s villainy isn’t as pronounced as Superman’s, but she’s definitely the friendly face who eggs him on and wants him to stand over all mankind. As Superman uses her to fill the void left from Lois Lane’s death, the power couple become very good at bringing out the worst in each other.

Damian Wayne

The Injustice game did Damian a little dirty, revealing deep into the story that the Nightwing fighting on Superman’s side was not Dick Grayson, but Damian. According to Batman, Damian murdered Dick. The comics dove deeper into that and made it more of a freak accident brought on by Damian being an impulsive and angry child. Still, Bruce and his son were unable to make amends due to their shared lack of warmth.

Later stories, and even Injustice 2, added more depth to Damian. It always made sense that he’d join Superman’s Regime, but there was a soul in there who would eventually see that this wasn’t the right path. In the comic Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe, which was treated as a sequel to Injustice 2’s dark ending, Damian took up the mantle of Batman to oppose Superman and even grew a long-missing sense of humor in the process.

Lex Luthor

The great tragedy of the DC multiverse is that Superman and Lex Luthor just can’t get along. They will always be at odds no matter what Earth they come from. The Injustice universe was the one exception, as Luthor was portrayed as fairly warm and altruistic. Much like Batman, he has contingency plans up the wazoo, but they don’t come off as creepy.

Seeing him there as Superman’s longtime friend who sadly has to stab him in the back brings back that multiversal truth about the duo. Just because this is a world where Superman kills and things get very bleak doesn’t mean it’s the worst world and that it isn’t worth saving. The mainstream Cyborg is reluctant to come to terms with this heroic Luthor, but he ultimately accepts the miracle that this universe created a Luthor worth befriending and even looking up to.

Hal Jordan

Maybe it’s just me, but I was never a fan of how Geoff Johns retconned Hal’s past and gave him deniability for everything he did as Parallax. I liked that a boring hero dude like Hal snapped, did some bad stuff, and then had to accept his failures in an attempt to be better. With Injustice, they gave us that exact Hal.

Read more

Games

Injustice Beat Zack Snyder’s Justice League to the Punch

By Matthew Byrd

Comics

Injustice: Year Zero Brings the Justice Society to DC Alternate Universe

By Jim Dandy

Overflowing with willpower and being an otherwise competent space cop, Hal is still something of a dunce at times, and he’s susceptible to manipulation in the right situation. He’s already following Superman’s lead, but having Sinestro pop in to indoctrinate him into the Sinestro Corps makes him actually interesting. Let Hal be the worst version of himself here so he can double back on it in the sequel and beg Guy Gardner’s ghost for forgiveness.

Shazam

Injustice may be the B-side to Mortal Kombat, but the game itself is fairly tame on the violence. Joker’s death isn’t actually shown on screen, Luthor’s end is fairly clean, and Grodd taking a trident to the torso is relatively tame.

But what we absolutely, positively have to see in the animated movie is Shazam’s death scene to really give an idea of how far gone Superman is. It’s bloodless from our point of view, but it’s grisly as hell and made worse when you remember that Shazam is a literal child under all the mystical power.

Batgirl

The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl was one of the first DLC characters added to Injustice, but it’s unfortunate that she’s not in the main story mode — something the animated movie could fix by giving her a more prominent role in the fight against the Regime. Her ending gives her a kickass backstory where she returns to the cowl after her father dies at Superman’s hands. The comics go deeper into this, even making it so that Superman doesn’t directly kill Commissioner Gordon.

In this continuity, she was already wheelchair-bound as Oracle. She had to go under a very dangerous procedure under Luthor’s care in order to walk again. This is one of the storylines that could make for a captivating arc in the movie.

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred isn’t in either Injustice game. He’s already dead by the start of the first game. But I don’t care. Alfred needs to be in the animated movie because he is the heart and soul of the Injustice comics. While others bow to Superman, follow him, or even try to reason with him, Alfred Pennyworth doesn’t play those games. He will straight-up verbally clown Superman for his actions without flinching. He is not afraid of the Kryptonian, no matter how red his glowing eyes get.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

This comes to a head in the comics when Alfred takes a pill that gives him Kryptonian strength and he kicks the absolute shit out of Superman for ruining his family. I know I’m asking for a lot, but I simply need to see Alfred stomp a mudhole in Superman so hard that his own shoe explodes from the impact.

The post 10 Injustice Characters the DC Animated Movie Needs to Get Right appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3hIQH7h

[geek-gem]

Let me be honest about this. This was a series of replies I was sending to my good friend @lovezdarestevez4ever who found these hilarious. But also the fact with some of these details might bother people.

As of right now. I do not know if Vivziepop plans to do her interpretation of God. Or any other Heaven based characters. So I apologise if some things seem wrong with the information here.

Especially this interpretation of God I have thought of before. He's more like he simply doesn't care of what happens in Hell anymore. As if it's a 2nd thought....it was strangely inspired by Thomas Wayne in some regards in Joker 2019. Again I apologise. It's like he shrugs off what goes on in Hell these days.

Just like I told my friend. The story behind Lucifer getting kicked out of Heaven might be more dramatic than funny. Yet she thought it seemed fitting for the tone.

But still...again I apologise for anything wrong because I'm not really a religion guy. Including I fixed some errors and added a timeline on that conversation part between Lucifer and God. Along with I'm going with the information that Lucifer and Satan are two different beings which I learned before. Now I'm concerned if it's true or not but it might be true.

This is all for humor and I didn't wanna waste not sharing this. Especially I have read Vivziepop wants Weird Al for Lucifer. Yet I always imagined him with a deeper voice. Similar to regards like D.C. Douglas (Albert Wesker from Resident Evil 5), or even more like David Kaye(Megatron from Transformers). But I'll probably like and accept whoever voices him.

Again all for humor. Especially those casting choices....I will admit Peter Cullen has been a ideal voice for God in my mind for a long time. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was a casting choice I had for Twisted Metal. Rami Malek I chose because I wanted to respect the fact Jesus was Middle Eastern or something. Sorry for this being long, enjoy this.

Jesus: Hey dad you sure about kicking Lucifer out? Was punching him out of Heaven really necessary?

God: Son trust me my decision was a good one. Lucifer was a lost cause. Besides what's an ex angel gonna do anyway?

Lucifer dancing down the stairs to Hell.*Basically the Joker stairs dance*

Jesus: Dad I think you made a terrible mistake.

God: Trust me son like he's gonna do anything extreme there.

Jesus: DAD HE'S BANGING A WOMAN NAMED LILITH AND HE'S TALKING TO SATAN!

God: Ah shit I okay I think I made a mistake.

Lucifer.

Starring.

Joaquin Phoenix as Lucifer.

Peter Cullen as God.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Satan.

And Rami Malek as Jesus Christ.

A comedy drama.

*Before Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven*

God: Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Be good but also follow these rules.

Lucifer: Wait bro you sure about that? I find some of these rules questionable. Some of these are rather harsh and extreme. Maybe you can chill for a bit.

God:......

Lucifer: What?

*God straight up fuckin punches him in the nose. Sending him out of Heaven*

*One day God visits Hell to meet with Lucifer and Satan* *This takes place during 1999 in Hell* *Originally I was gonna leave it as the 1990's*

Lucifer: Hey God.....

God: Hey Lucifer.......

Lucifer: How's your son?

God: Good.

Lucifer: What about Mary?

God: She's doing very fine.

*Lucifer just sips some tea and it's just awkward silence and I got your message...............*

Jesus:.........are we gonna talk more dad?

Satan: Jesus boy..... I think your dad and Lucifer are.....having a little stand off. I have never felt this much big dick energy in forever. I'm feeling.....a lot of hate.

*More silence*

Lucifer:...........my wife is prettier and has bigger tits than your wife.

God: GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU DISGRACE!

Lucifer: YOU GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU ALL KNOWING BEING!

Jesus: Oh God I hate this.

Satan: I'm getting more popcorn for this show! :D

Lucifer: YOUR BIBLE IS FULL OF BULLSHIT!

God: I CAN'T STAND THAT DAMN POLKA MUSIC!

Lucifer: YOU WERE LIKE A BROTHER TO ME!

God: WE WERE NEVER BROTHERS YOU LITERAL SNAKE!

*Jesus calls Mary*

Jesus: Mom pick me up I'm terrified! Dad's fighting with Lucifer again!

Mary: Son your thousands of years old. You can leave yourself.

*Satan crying tears of joy*

Satan: This is the best thing ever! :D

God: THIS IS WHY WE HAVE YEARLY EXTERMINATIONS YOU INTOLERANT PIECE OF SHIT!

Lucifer: HOW ABOUT SHOW SOME FUCKING EMPATHY FOR ONCE IN YOUR MISERABLE FUCKING LIFE!

Lilith: Luci honey Charlotte is trying to sleep. Can you and God be much more quiet please? Or take this outside.

God: Great you might wake up the only decent person in this shit hole. You're baby girl who I'm surprised is even your daughter.

Lucifer: SHE'S NEARLY A YOUNG ADULT AND YOUR THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS WE'RE IN!

God: NO YOU WERE!

Lucifer: FUCK YOU!

God: FUCK YOU!

*A giant explosion happens at Lucifer's fortress and all of Hell just witnesses it*

Angel Dust:.....What.....the fuck....was that?

Valentino: It's God and Lucifer screaming at each other again. It's rare this happens.

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Ideas: Power Transfer

Also on AO3!

TL;DR: 

One for all is a power that has been passed down for generations. Turns out the most recent generation can afford to be a whole lot more liberal with his sharing. Also turns out sharing quirks runs in the family.

An AU where Izuku can share OFA full cowling with multiple people at once.

shared power ofa,

izuku giving aizawa 5% of one for all durring the usj or izuku giving toshinori 99% of OFA durring the last fight

cause consider the world never finding out about small might, all might retires but izuku knows

the rescue team all having the max amount of ofa they can use, which is around 2% each, cause a lil sparking team of heroes

izuku using kirishima to give bakugo some too n them using it to get away

izuku having two quirks is my favourite goddamn thing bc him being able to share his quirk but not having anything to share is great

he gives bits to allmight, like a constant 1% so he can teach classes and do press stuff

some rando wants to do an "all might" where is he now segment and it spans a good few months so izuku is continuously in the background just

conspiracy theory starts that izuku is a villain or allmights son

a villain and all might's son

izuku has no double toe joint but the doc cant find any evidence of a quirk? so he tells them izuku is either quirkless or has an invisible quirk. something subtle, or specific enough to have not activated by now

bakugo kinda,, is chill with izuku. he was waiting for izuku to develop a quirk till he judged him, but he never did so he kinda withheld judgement long enough for them to become decent friends

anyway, izuku likes to ramble about different things his quirk could technically be, bakugo likes to join in. they can go at this for h o u r s cackling about stupid hypotheticals

they workout together, they both do boxing and try out random moves they see on the internet on each other. they have a pile of gym mats in the woods like the weirdos they are

bakugo is like,, convinced izuku's quirk is actually an intellect up but he just shrugs

izuku has to grab something before he heads home so he takes the underpass and we get basically episode 1 from there. all might says no, the villain gets away, attacks Bakugo. izuku runs in, throws dust in the villain's eyes and pulls at bakugo's hands. all might jumps in, saves the day yada yada

some background for u about all might bc his past is a touch different here. during the battle with afo, afo was distracted. all might sustained the same injures but won more easily.

night eye never looks into his future because "my purpose is done, nighteye. let's live like everyone else, no fate of the world on our shoulders" he never looks into all mights future again at his request

they stay together

so instead of the big argument they go get ramen and get drunk because they don't have to be superhuman anymore, they can relax now

back to the main timeline-

so izuku is already fit, cleans the beach in 8 months, nighteye supervises

all might gives izuku the quirk 2 months before the entrance exam, nighteye is there to "oversee" (he wants to see izuku choke on a hair and laugh at this kid hes become pretty fond of)

also mirio! is izuku's bro because i love he

izuku eats the hair and gets the quirk like, instantly which?? is confusing nighteye and all might. nighteye has like,,, hidden behind a car because hes the only person with self-preservation

allmight touches izuku and the lightning climbs up his arm and he just pOofs out into swolmight. hes ShooK, so is izuku

anyway, he manages to turn it off and izuku is just standing there like "oh my god what the fuck"

"izuku,, what,, happened there"

",,,, one for all??? leaked out??? into allmight????"

...

"nighteye come over here."

"izukU nO"

"STAND STILL NIGHTEYE I JUST NEED TO TRY SOMETHING"

nighteye is forcibly given a little of ofa and regrets a lot of stuff

anyway, izuku breaks an arm trying to use ofa and hes muttering trying to work out how to use it, nighteye basically says "well, think back to how ofa came about" and izuku is like ",,, what"

and nighteye screams because TOSHI YOU DIDNT TELL HIM?????? and allmight ",,, o o p s"

so izuku gets to hear the story of all for one while hes being driven to UA for recovery girl hes,,, really quiet for a second

"when did you fight him?"

"six years ago, april?"

",,, this has to be a coincidence"

hisashi went out on a "business trip" 6 years ago and they haven't seen him since. he calls, but hes never visited and izuku has this terrible feeling

because izuku cant calm down and because nighteye thinks this kid might be on to something they call tsukauchi and he agrees to meet them at UA

izuku gets treated, naomasa is in v quickly afterwards before he calls his dad he turns to nighteye, allmight and Naomasa

"i've never been able to lie to my dad. i thought he was just really good at reading me but,,"

"if hes afo he might have a quirk"

"yeah. so i'll just twist the truth. im good at that, but thats all i'll be able to do"

anyway, he calls up his dad and slaps this big grin on his face. the phone is on speaker

"hey dad!!!!" "izuku! is something wrong?"

"oi, cant i call my dad for no reason?"

"you, willingly calling someone? dont make me laugh"

izuku giggles despite himself

"anyway, you'll never guess!!"

"did youuuu,,,, hmmmm, meet all might?"

they freeze but izuku just laughs

"yeah,, but thats not the most exciting thing!!! my quirk came in finally"

"oh?"

"yeah! imagine the worlds most basic power enhancer, but i can share the energy! you have any idea where that could have come from?"

"no! i can't think of anyone in our family with a quirk like that! sounds crazy!"

naomasa looks grin, and mouths "liar"

izuku pales but keeps his smile

"do you think you could visit, id love to show you!! oh, maybe we could test it together! you always had the best ideas for my quirk notes"

"id love to izuku, but im stuck in america for the near future, you know it is. i'll see what i can do tho, ok champ?"

naomasa shakes his head again "lying" izuku looks like hes going to be sick. nighteye is pale, all might looks stunned. izuku grits his teeth but his voice is still light and happy

"i'm gonna make it into UA so you can watch me kick butt from america! you better cheer me on!"

"im looking forward to it. say hi to your mother from me."

naomasa nods. hes telling the truth. that makes nighteye feel the sickest

"love you izuku"

",,, love you too dad"

izuku hangs up the phone and retches into the bin. nighteye is shaking. all might storms out. naomasa punches the wall

izuku looks up with tears in his eyes

",,, does my mum know?"

nighteye wants to cry

"i dont know kid"

izuku tells katuski that his quirk finally came in! but,,, in the worlds biggest mess of a way

basically hes lying in bed, trying to work out why he can't use it without breaking bones but the people he shares it with can, he bolts upright

"POWER MODULATION OH MY GOD"

he runs out his door all the way to bakugos house and climbs in through his window, grabbing a sleeping bakugo by the shoulders

"KACCHAN ITS POWER MODULATION"

"IZuKU whAt tHE fuCK"

"my quirk!!! i was breaking bones because i wasnt modulating it!!!"

",,,,q QUiRK/???/?"

",,,, oh yeah oops"

mitsuki runs in with a frying pan ready to murder a villain but its just izuku

"carry on"

izuku doesnt tell him its ofa but he explains his quirk has finally showed up, bakugo asks him if hes registered it yet

",,,noooooo"

"wait what? you, breaking the law? mister "i cant kill an ant because all might himself will call me a villain""

izuku, w the most shit-eating grin, explains that you only legaly have to register your quirk when it shows up, or after you are tested when you are five, whichever happens first so, legally, he doesnt need to register because it would be seen as voluntary updating

cut to the enterance exam

aizawa is holding the papers for the kids hes observing right then

"quirkless? that kid doesn't look quirkless"

and yagi sighs

"of course he didnt,,,"

"all might? do you know him?"

"NO NO IDEA WHO MID- THAT YOUNG CHILD IS"

",,,, r i g h t"

“aizawa listen i have never seen young midoriya in my life ever”

basically, izuku is hiding the "transfer" part of his power from most people bc hes stubborn and thinks it could be useful

also,,, in this au shinso makes it in on hero points thanks

bakugo is about to rush the 0 pointer but shinso can see its going to fall on him shinsou yells

"HEY FUCK FACE"

"HA-"

"MOVE MOVE MOVE GET OVER HERE BEFORE YOU FUCKING DIE OH MY GOD MOVE I DONT WANT TO SEE SOMEONE DIE TODAY"

shinsou and bakugou are the type of friends that flat out have no love for each other but would punch anyone who says anything bad abt the other. like shinsou walks into school and bakugou s just

“dammit i thought u fucking died smh”

“i wish i did then i wouldn’t have to look at ur ugly ass”

in this au shinso and izuku bond when they are standing outside they door bc izuku looks like hes gonna fucking cry hes so scared and shinsou is like "wow big mood"

shinso is not shinson in this au! bc izuku is gonna do a soft

basically, quirk test? shinsou is s w e a t i n g bakugo looks a little worried for his new friend but no one would notice if they weren’t izuku

shinsou turns to him like "my quirk is mental im going to fa I L"

izuku grabs his hand and he feels this rush of energy, you can almost see it dancing along his skin. izuku grins

"i think you'll find you do just fine"

(izuku gave him like,, less than a full 1% but hes like doubled in strength and speed and hes??? shook?? bc whats happening)

aizawa is lost bc shinso has a mental quirk he shouldnt be doing this well, so he tries to cancel it

nothing happens and aizawa is so lost??? bc shinsou is kinda reedy and not super fit but hes placing solidly in the middle

and he noticing that shinso’s eyes seem to be glowing and so are they eyes of the kid coming in second and gives a big "hm,mmmm"

anyway, ball pitch, he cancels izukus quirk and turns to look at shinso, his eyes are dim. izuku looks sheepish but also like hes ready to throw down and its an interesting look

aizawa just sighs "you know what? just throw the ball."

izuku g r i n s and yeets it into next year using more of his quirk than he like,, really should have? to prove a point (his finger is bruised, not broken. he used 25%)

anyway aizawa shows the results, shinso is in the middle, izuku second, hagakure is last and sadly shes not getting expelled bc plot reasons – im sorry I have a thing against her shes perfectly valid probably im just still convinced shes the traitor even tho its totally a teacher

he calls izuku out on it but does admit he didnt say you couldnt help eachother, so its kind on him. shinso looks like hes going to pass out with relief

Hagekure is the traitor in this au though, 100%

during the camp she is at the pick up zone, hiding. izuku pulls bakugo out of the way, they all seem safe

but

she pushes izuku in through the portal as it closes

fyi afo takes her quirk and leaves her braindead in the nomu factory bc shes not useful anymore. also because now he needs to have a really awkward conversation with his son he was hoping to avoid

also usj? is really melodramatic

he gives aizawa 4% which is the max nighteye could hold without it hurting

aizawa takes a hit from the nomu and he reaches out his hand

izuku cries as he gives him an extra 4% and aizawa gets free but he can see bruises forming with every step his teacher takes

[fanfoolishness]

Rambling thoughts for Little Graduation/Prickly Pair

My heart can’t even handle it, you guys.  I just... I can’t.  *cries forever* Thoughts behind the jump for spoilers/length, and please feel free to yell at me or reblog with your own thoughts!

Steven is singing along to an old Sadie Killer song because it’s old and familiar

Really the only time we’ve seen him sing this season

Because his feelings are too muddled up and painful to dare put to song

So he sticks to others’ music instead, safer that way

OMG he adds a little “Hey” to “Teens by day” so cute

OMG he does a falsetto part to the first Sadie Killer and Suspects and then a goofy as FUCK deep voice for the second Sadie Killer and the Suspects

I just… Zach Callison’s voice work this season has been so good and it sounds like he’s having such a good time at the silly parts and he’s been so emotional on the rough parts, if he doesn’t get recognized for his work on the show by the end it’ll be criminal

This is gonna be the last time we really see Steven happy for a long time, isn’t it? And it’s so sad because it such a joy to see him that way again for a second, no eye bags, no stress. My heart.

Aww Sadie got a neck too!

YEAH STEVEN REALLY DID DIAMOND EYES FROM EXCITEMENT, not stars!!!

I’m sad for Lars and Sadie that their growth took them different places but I’m so proud of them too!!!

“Don’t you wanna try something new?”

“Well, hm.”

“Except for me! I’ll still be… right here.”

Steven is losing control of his floating powers. Tried to be cool guy floating around with his friends and failed. This is really concerning. The last time he couldn’t float well was way back in season 4. Stevennnnnnn….

Shep DOES seem so cool!

Look at Rebecca Sugar, they truly just be out there like “last season, what are they gonna do to me if I put non-binary humans in the show, that’s right, they won’t do jack SHIT” bwahaha

And it’s lovely that it’s just no biggie

Steven your ship didn’t sail, I’m sorry but you can’t write AUs for real people

Lars is more worried about the cake than about his ex

“Are YOU okay?”

Finally someone is asking and of course Steven is like”what? My problems are visible externally? WHAT problems???”

“Everyone but me…”

Buck got into medical school??? Holy shit, so he was in college before? Dang. Also his bedside manner will be soooooo weird and cool

Actually I can see him as one of the weird internal medicine doctors who’s super smart so you want them on your case but he only says the occasional weird thing like “your gallbladder is an illusion” or “your hormones are like, totally out of sync. Lemme fix that” or wow, I don’t even know, I may have to write a drabble of an intern just being wowed by how weird he is

Classic Steven would definitely buy a jacket for his phone

Awww Sadie you should have told him 😭😭😭

Lars watching Steven slow motion self-destruct like “oh god is this how I was”

“Ah, well… you should have asked me, I’m-I’m really good at naming bands…”

Jesus Christ Steven that sound was my heart breaking for you

What the fuck is Shep’s instrument? Anyone know?

Okay this is actually a really good graduation song and while Sadie Killer is still awesome I love that Sadie can also tap into more personal emotions for her work now, she’s just so good!

I know how Lars feels, sometimes those big events are just overwhelming

I love his leather jacket!

So uhhhh maybe Steven doesn’t control Diamond Mode as well as we had thought given the last few episodes

It’s really fascinating because it’s clear in the animation and voice work Steven’s struggling with so many feelings right now

He’s scared Lars and the others are slipping away

He’s ashamed he feels so aimless beside them

He’s angry that Lars isn’t listening and is going to leave him

He’s sad that everyone’s changing

The way Steven yells at Lars to stop is just so fucking desperate, his shaking fist, holy shit kid you do not do goodbyes well do you

Aaaaaaand that’s new. What the hell is it??? We’ve never seen this from any other gem or Diamond before. DAMMIT STEVEN THIS IS NOT HEALTHY

It shredded the stage and the banner 😭

Digging that scary as fuck musical motif

It has the Diamond mode machine noise in the background — that flickering humming power sound

Seriously Steven!!! How the hell would Lars’ feelings— so much denial

“When did this happen, I didn’t see any of this!”

I love that he touched on this, like of course people don’t have to live their private lives in front of you, dingbat! But so much of his life has been lived with the Gems who did display all their trauma and problems that he can’t help but feel he’s entitled to see how things work out

It’s also concerning because it suggests he is having some trouble viewing people as independent to him, as having their own agency

WHITE DIAMOND ANYONE

I love that Lars is so excited to be back in space with his friends!!

Oh man the way everyone stares at Steven like “bro, clearly you are the only magical pink person in the room”

Some really gorgeous frames of Steven’s face here, wish Apple TV let you cap them 😢

“I can’t help it if my dumb heart misses you guys” I’m CRYING FOREVER

AMAZING use of “squash and stretch” Disney animation theory here hahahaha

Lars and Steven hug gives me so much life waaaaaah

I still can’t get over how grownup that boy looks behind the wheel. I love his hand tapping on the wheel.

So pensive. Poor Steven.

And now Prickly Pair, if you thought your heart hurt before well lemme tell you what!

How much time has passed since Snow Day?

Dammit, I predicted in one of my fics that Steven would feel weird about gardening magically and want to do it all the old-fashioned way…

But I haven’t finished it, alas. And Steven is doing much better emotionally by that point in MY story thank you hahahaha

Also it’s Connverse and adorable

Okay really should work on it

Well, okay, Connie is a cute smart blue flower so at least Steven’s still thinking of her? I really wish she had been here but I guess she’s gonna have to save Steven from himself soon enough.

I’m now kind of uneasy about the idea of them dating… I really wanted them to get together but Steven isn’t healthy right now. He’s really messed up and kind of worse than I was even thinking with all my angsting. If they try to get together now Steven might be weird and controlling and secretive and that is not the Connverse I want! Maybe we’ll get something cute and sweet after Steven starts recovering and getting mentally healthier?

Because not to say you can’t be in a relationship and be mentally ill… but the low point of your illness is NOT a time to START a relationship, and if they’d really been dating this whole time I have to imagine we’d have heard about it. So my guess would be not dating, Steven was too busy to hang out a lot of the time, but still friends.

Dammit I really wanted cute date episodes and the big dance from Chille Tid 😭

DON’T NAME YOUR PLANTS AFTER PEOPLE

Garnet tried to warn him… I wonder how the cactus acted in other timelines.

Does Zach voice the cactus too?

Yep: confirmed, Zach is a cactus.

FINALLY we’re in Steven’s head and it’s an uncomfortable place to be

“I used to be helpful, but the Gems don’t need me anymore! Why do I need to be needed? Stevennnn, pull it together!!!”

And again with the head clutching and yeah it really seems like White’s pulling a Steven in the intro doesn’t it???

Oh god I assumed the cactus was going to be a monster because of repressed feelings manifesting in Steven’s spit but it’s so much more painful that it repeats after him and THAT’s what makes it upset waaaaaaah

Cactus Steven screaming why do I need to be needed!!!

The Gems are finally asking the right questions but Steven is so paranoid he can’t help but view them in the worst way

Steven venting about the gems hurts but he DID have to deal with them at their worst

Oh no, he went diamond mode on Cactus Steven!

The powering up noise diamond mode makes is so ominous, I love it

I can’t believe Steven didn’t almost lose an eye from his own shield right then and there

“Those are my real private thoughts! I can’t let them hear!”

Noooo his house!

Nooooo Steven the Gems can take listening to you a lot better than a magical cactus could, you’ve GOT to talk to someone or this will get SO. MUCH. WOrse.

Yeah. It’s gonna get so much worse. ;_;